Vertigo
by ASIG
Summary: Bizzare events bring the crews of DS9, TNG, and Voyager together to face the ultimate enemy.
1. Prologue

Fanfic2 **__**

Prologue

Most of the staff of the _U.S.S. Enterprise-E _was sitting in the conference lounge. Commander Deanna Troi could sense the feelings of uneasiness and concern among the senior staff. Captain Picard was very rarely late for a staff meeting and Lieutenant Commander Data had never been late since Deanna had known him. Despite their mixed feelings no one in the room spoke; they all waited respectfully for their captain. 

Suddenly, the doors to the conference lounge hissed opened and Lieutenant Commander Data and Captain Jean-Luc Picard entered. Data proceeded to the first chair to the captain's right, his usual position. Data's gold-skinned face rested very seriously, as if his emotion chip was off. Since Data almost always kept the chip active, it was quite clear the mapping mission to Liguinn Eight had been cancelled and something else had come up. Captain Picard also took his usual position at the head of the table. He set down two pads and studied them carefully. Then he looked up making eye contact with the crew for the first time. As he slowly looked around the table, his eyes rested on Data.

"I apologize for the delay. As you may have guessed we have a new mission." Picard looked very tense, his face was stern, his words clear. He continued to move the pads on the table around, a sure sign that he was uncomfortable. "One our probes aimed toward the Delta Quadrant has detected a faint signature of a Federation transponder code. After some study Starfleet has decided that this could only be the starship _Voyager,_ which was lost several years ago. Our mission is to retrieve the vessel and bring it into Federation territory as soon as possible. The information the ship has gathered will be extremely valuable to the ships ready to go and explore the Delta Quadrant. Mr. Data."

The android officer made a brief motion similar to what a dog does when its master speaks of him or her. Even though he was just as uncomfortable as Picard was, Data was able to stop his body from making minute movements that are involuntary to many humanoids. "Although the signal received is very weak it is clearly the _U.S_ _S. Voyager's_ transponder code. The ship's basic design is similar to what _Voyager_ was like before it was lost in the Delta Quadrant. It is plausible to assume species in the Delta Quadrant helped enhance the ship's technology. Starfleet Command has found a Trans-Warp conduit that will take us very close to where the ship should be in three days seven hours forty two minutes and seventeen seconds. That is assuming it does not alter course in that amount of time, but the probability of that occurring is very low. The Trans-Warp conduit we will be using is an older conduit and may not be as stable as others we have traveled through."

"The chances of actually making contact with the Borg are very slim. We were chosen for this assignment due to our experience in traveling through the conduits and because of the stability of this vessel." Picard could see that his senior staff was beginning to understand. He turned his chair sideways, took a deep breath, and straightened his uniform before turning back to tell the officers one last thing. "These people must be very homesick, untrusting, and maybe even apathetic to the point where they may act hostile. Counselor, I want you to start looking for information that may make our first contact with the ship easier. Their families are already upset with Starfleet, who has promised them that the _Voyager's_ crew would be safely delivered home sometime within the next month, and some of the family members are believed to be capable of committing terrorist acts if Starfleet disappoints them any more. The Delta Quadrant is no place for a Federation starship. Now, this mission could have serious repercussions if we fail. Starfleet Command considers it a Priority One assignment. We cannot afford to make any mistakes. Dismissed."

As the officers exited they began to realize the seriousness of the situation. Starfleet Command had not issued a Priority One assignment since the _U.S.S. Hubbell's_ famous espionage mission at the end of the original Klingon-Federation War. Everyone silently went back to work, but each individual knew that they would have a difficult time keeping their mind off the new mission to the Delta Quadrant. 

**__**


	2. Chapter 1

C1 **__**

The _U.S.S. Voyager_ was racing through space at maximum warp as usual. The time: 07:05:22. Captain Janeway entered the bridge with a cup full of Neelix's coffee looking a little groggy. She looked around surprised not to see her first officer. 

"Tuvok, where is Commander Chakotay this morning?" the captain asked.

"He is on shore leave thanks to Mr. Neelix's new R&R program. If you need him he should be in cargo bay three with five other officers," Tuvok reported.

"Oh yes," Janeway said, "I had almost forgotten all about the program."

"Sir," Tuvok started, "if you feel that a first officer's presence is necessary I believe that…"

The Captain held up a hand with a faint smile. "That won't be necessary." She looked so tired and so fatigued. It was as if she hadn't had a good nights sleep in weeks, and that she was carrying the life of every person on this ship on her weary shoulders. However, even she knew that this was not true. _Voyager_ and her crew committed themselves to follow proper procedure, and the lives of the crew were in the hands of the mission. Which of course was to get back to Earth and the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway took a sip of her coffee and looked back towards Ensign Harry Kim. "Any interesting readings today Mr. Kim?" she asked. 

Harry looked down at his panel, made a few brief inquires, then looked back up at his captain, "No ma'am, nothing worth checking out. Just asteroids, comets, and a few star systems that are incapable of supporting life."

Janeway thought about this and then said, "Well, why not go to one of those star systems. Ensign contact Seven of Nine to see which one might be the most interesting."

Kim swiftly replied, "Yes ma'am."

Lieutenant Commander Tuvok stopped his work at once and looked up at Captain Janeway, raising one eyebrow he said, "Captain, this idea would seem highly illogical. If our goal is to get back to the Alpha Quadrant, then is it not logical to avoid stopping at planets that do not support life and that will most likely not have any extractable resources?"

"We're explorers," Janeway replied, "and that doesn't change no matter which quadrant of the galaxy we're in. Besides if I learned anything the past few years it's that you never know what surprises await you in the Delta Quadrant."

In Astometrics, Seven of Nine, the Borg drone turned human, was quietly working at her preferred station. She was currently going over the ship's trajectory and gathering up the information sensors had recorded and re-arranging it in what she might call, "a more efficient system of organization." She looked up at the viewscreen in front of her and paused. She saw her reflection, but it wasn't right, she was looking at a Borg. Startled Seven took a deep breath, closed her eyes and looked back up at the screen and exhaled, relieved to see her normal reflection. She continued her work. Several minutes later she paused again. She could have sworn she heard something. The sound was familiar, but she couldn't quite relate. Her mind was incapable of focusing because of her recent experience. Suddenly her expression became one of terror as she realized that it was the sound of the Borg Collective consciousness. Suddenly a voice came over the comm.

"Bridge to Seven of Nine," it was Harry Kim. A pause, then Kim said, "Seven, is everything all right down there?"

Seven blinked several times and shook her weary head and replied, "Everything is fine Ensign, I apologize for the delay. What is it I can do for you."

"The captain is interested in looking at one of the three systems within sensor range. She wants you to figure out which one will be the most interesting to visit," Kim explained.

"Right away," Seven swiftly replied.

Seven looked down at her hand covered with Borg technology. Then she felt the eyepiece, which gave her superior eyesight to humans. Despite her apparent lack of emotions, she was a human and facing facts with anything related to the Borg was extremely difficult for her. Although she never showed it around others, but nevertheless her Borg side was the one thing she had any trouble dealing with. She started her work once again, but she couldn't help but think that she was having premonitions about something terrible to come.

On the space station Deep Space Nine Captain Benjamin Sisko stared out of his office window. He gripped his baseball firmly, and was uncomfortably moving it around in his hands. He was having trouble concentrating, but he could not figure out why. He was about to get up to get a ractagino when he heard Major Kira's voice.

"Kira to Captain Sisko."

"Go ahead Major."

"Captain it appears that Quark was trying to smuggle Andorian Ice Crystals again. When Odo and his deputies arrived to make the bust Quark's shipping partners started shooting. Apparently the leader of these Pakleds would like to see you regarding legal consul and pardon. Odo has assured me that he does have every right to request a meeting with the Captain to discuss legal consuls."

"Very well Major, I'm on my way."

Sisko got up tossed his baseball in the air and… missed the catch. This was a very rare happening and usually meant bad luck for the station captain. Sisko gritted his teeth and picked up the ball. He set it on the stand in his desk and left to see what Quark was up to today. He still could not believe he _dropped_ his baseball. Maybe he was under too much stress, and should see Doctor Bashir. 

**__**


	3. Chapter 2

C2 **__**

The _U.S.S. Enterprise-E_ raced through space at maximum warp. 

"How long until we reach the coordinates of the conduit?" asked Captain Picard.

"We will be there in exactly fifteen minutes forty-two seconds," replied Data. 

"Well," said Picard, "let me know when we arrive. Number One you have the bridge; I'll be in my ready room."

"Captain!" began Ensign Regal, the _Enterprise's_ new tactical officer; "we're picking up a distress call."

"The source Commander Data!" shot Picard with some concern. Although the captain wanted to reach the Trans-Warp conduit as soon as possible he could not help feel obligated to assist someone in distress. Unfortunately, he knew that Starfleet Command would not be pleased to find out that the Enterprise was deterring from her mission. Picard was well aware that he needed to spend as little time as possible with this distress, but as hard as he tried he couldn't push the idea out of his head that as a Starfleet captain he was obligated to assist anyone in distress. Ever since war with the Dominion broke out the Federation has been forced to push aside some of its normal principals in order to survive. Picard may have understood this, but he didn't like it.

"This is highly unusual," Commander Data stated, "the call is coming from Monasian Prime. When we made first contact with the Monasians twenty-three years ago, they wanted to have nothing to do with Starfleet fearing that we would interrupt their evolutionary process. The Federation Consul respectfully agreed to silently protect the world, but not interfere with them in any way. At first both governments were interested in allowing the Federation and the Monasian people to communicate. However, dissidents against the original agreement started attempting to smuggle Starfleet technology onto the world. So after three short months the agreement was modified and Monasian Prime has had no contact with outsiders since."

"Well, then we probably should see what is going on," said Picard.

Commander Riker sat up, "Captain, with all do respect, I don't think we can afford to waste time with this. For all we know the dissidents Data mentioned are trying to make contact again. Isn't our current assignment more important than that?"

"I'm sorry but I disagree Commander," said Picard, "If the government managed to successfully prevent communication for twenty-three years than they're probably not getting sloppy here. So, if the Monasian Government is trying to make contact than that might indicate a dire planetary emergency in which case it is our duty as protectorates to investigate."

"Yes sir!" said Riker. He recognized this tone in Picard's voice. It meant: I have made my decision and there is nothing else to discuss. Riker often had plenty to say that could change Picard's mind in a situation like this, but over the years Riker knew to let it go. Besides the Captain did often seem to instinctively know when to do something illogical, and Riker had to admit, when this happened they usually found there was more to something than meets the eye. Picard's first officer knew he had to trust to his Captain's judgment.

"Helm set a course for Monasian Prime, maximum warp," ordered Picard, "I do plan on limiting our time there. Especially if there is no emergency."

Data spoke up, "Captain I believe we can only afford to be sidetracked for four hours before we will have a difficult time finding _Voyager_ on the other side of the Trans-Warp conduit."

"Thank you, Mr. Data," said Picard.

As the _Enterprise_ jumped out of warp the ship was due to a twenty-minute impulse voyage through the Monasian System before reaching Monasian Prime. Captain Picard wondered what was going through the mind of a young junior officer at this moment. The ship is to travel to the Delta Quadrant to retrieve a fellow star ship. Suddenly, they find themselves in some other star system for no apparent reason. 

"Is there a problem, Captain?" Counselor Troi asked Picard.

"No Counselor," said Picard, "I was just thinking what is probably going through the minds of our junior officers at a moment like this. Not knowing what is going on." Troi smiled at him letting her captain know that she understood what he was trying to say. Picard wrapped up his thoughts by saying, "I can imagine many of them would be quite confused."

"Approaching Monasian Prime," announced Ensign Keyes, the _Enterprise_ helmsman.

"Be prepared to enter orbit," Commander Riker responded.

The massive star ship slowed from full impulse to prepare to go into orbit of Monasian Prime. As the _Enterprise_ approached the giant world, she slowly started to encircle the planet. Ensign Keyes merely had to use the thrusters to make sure the ship did not escape the planet's gravitational pull or that the ship did not get pulled toward the planet and go crashing to the surface. As usual the _Enterprise_ had no problems entering orbit.

The reaction on the bridge was of no surprise to anybody. Most of the crew was accustomed to entering orbit often. Captain Picard spoke up, "Ensign Regal, open hailing frequencies."

"Frequencies open… we are getting a response, but it is not real sir. It seems to be an automated message."

"Well," said Picard, thinking after that after the _Enterprise_ interrupted a priority one assignment to come here, the least the Monasians could do is give them a real person to talk to, "lets hear it anyway."

Suddenly the image of a man in rather formal apparel sitting behind a desk appeared on the main viewer. "Greetings from Monasian Prime. If you are receiving this message you must be an outsider to this world. We are on the verge of making some huge scientific breakthroughs with our orbital technology. Assuming that our research continues to go well we will soon be able to support people who could live in a structure orbiting our world for several months! My staff and I are closely involved with this research and cannot take the time to make any unscheduled appointments. The reason that we thought it was appropriate to make this recording is that we are currently working on better ways of communicating with our orbital satellites. However, our scientists fear that our efforts to send a signal to one of our satellites may cause the signals to travel beyond our solar system. And as they move through space who knows what distortions may occur." The man suddenly looked to his right and then quickly back toward the camera again. "The main thing you need to understand is that we are perfectly okay and in need of absolutely no assistance…" The transmission ended abruptly.

"Captain," said Data, who was clearly baffled, "I do not understand what they could be doing that would cause such signals to be picked up by our sensors. Also, we are positive that we did indeed pick up a distress signal."

Captain Picard noticed an odd look on Counselor Troi's face. "Counselor what did you sense from him?"

"I couldn't sense anything from the recording sir; it's the planet."

"What about it?"

"I may not be standing close to any of the Monasians, but I can usually sense a general feeling from a planet with this much of a population. I think there could be something terribly wrong."

"Could…"

Now Will Riker cut in, "Captain, looking at that recording, that man seemed like he wanted to come off a lot more laid back than he actually was. The words might make sense, but in my opinion his mood shows otherwise. One might even say he looked frightened."

Data turned around to face his commanding officers, "There is something else odd about this planet. There is an advanced network of satellites already in place. They are sending out strange particle waves that completely block our sensors. Our sensors cannot even tell us what these are. It is most puzzling because I have never seen anything that so completely disrupts Federation Sensors."

"Do we know how old this message is Mr. Data?" Picard asked.

"We have no way of knowing. However, all available data indicates that it was recorded recently."

The captain took a few moments to absorb the situation and then said, "Commander I want a staff meeting in fifteen minutes."

On Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko stepped out of his office into ops. He was headed toward a turbolift to see what kind of trouble Quark had gotten himself into. Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien spoke with a curious tone, "Captain, there's something coming through the wormhole."

"Chief, we're not expecting any ships are we?"

"No sir, not a thing. I don't understand what it could be."

Sisko did not like this, "Yellow alert! Mr. Worf, I need identification!"

Worf quickly worked at his panel. Then he looked up with alarm. "Captain sensors show three Borg cubes!" 

Sisko didn't waste anytime. "Evacuate! Dax advise Bajor to be ready to activate planetary shields. Worf start programming automated patterns for the station's weapons. Chief, we can't stay here, ready the Defiant for launch and assemble the Starfleet crew. All Starfleet officers must be there. Sisko to Major Kira."

"I'm here Captain. What is going on?"

"No time to explain Major. I need you to make sure that all non-Starfleet personnel and all civilians are on Bajor within the hour – sooner if possible. If you need things to go faster use the runabouts."

"Aye sir," Major Kira replied. The Major was nervous. She did not know what was happening, and couldn't explain why the station was at red alert. Yet, she heard that sound of urgency Captain Sisko's voice. The only other time she had heard him speak in this tone was just prior to the Dominion invasion of Deep Space Nine. Kira knew that evacuating all non-Starfleet personnel in one hour would be a push. Fortunately for her non-Starfleet included Odo, the very efficient working shape shifter. 

Odo was in Quark's Bar waiting for Captain Sisko to see Quark when all of the commotion started. He thought the best to go to his security office and see what he could find out. As Odo got to his office he immediately checked to see what reports had been filed. _Typical,_ he thought, humans were always keeping records and writing reports about everything that they did. Normally, he found it useless because Odo could rely on his excellent memory. So, of course, the few times he actually wished to see one of these reports they were not there. He was just about to contact Ops when Major Kira walked in. 

"Odo," she began, "something's going on, I don't know what myself, but Captain Sisko wants everyone who is not Starfleet on Bajor within the hour. I thought you could help me evacuate."

"Well," Odo declared, "than we'd better get to work. Why don't you start with the pylons; I'll take care of the promenade and join you when I'm finished. Nobody should be in their quarters with all of this ruckus."

Later, in Ops, Captain Sisko came out of his office. "Dax how are we doing?"

"Good Benjamin," Dax replied, "the last shuttle just left for Bajor, and the _Defiant's_ waiting for us."

"And not a moment too soon old man, the Borg are nearly in weapons range. Mr. Worf start up the weapons sequence to give the _Defiant_ cover." Worf nodded and proceeded, "Well, then people," Sisko took a deep breath and said, "it's time to leave." Chief O'Brien, Lieutenant Commander Dax, Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Captain Sisko stepped into the turbolift. "_Defiant_!" Sisko barked.

**__**


	4. Chapter 3

C3 **__**

The senior the staff the _Enterprise_ assembled in the conference lounge to discuss the Monasian situation. They all knew that they would most likely be leaving with more questions than answers because of the urgency of their mission, but they all wanted to figure out this bizarre mystery. Captain Picard began, "As you all know we have a mystery on our hands. You also know we cannot afford to be sidetracked from Starfleet's assignment. I have called this meeting to determine whether or not there is any threat to Monasian Prime. Now, I have asked Commander La Forge and Commander Data to analyze the automated message we received from the planet to see if there is anything that indicates more is happening here than they want us to know. Mr. La Forge."

Geordi stood up, took a deep breath and as started to talk he headed toward the monitor. "We began watching the video looking at the speaker for clues. Nothing was out of the ordinary. So, we began looking for things in the background. At first, everything seemed normal, but then we found this. Computer display Monasian auto 1 at time index 27.34 paused. I think Data can take over from here."

The android officer stood up. "Thank you Geordi," he said as he quickly walked to the screen. "As you can see everything looks normal in this room. However, it is not. For 2.7 seconds there is an image in the Monasian Leader's lamp. We have keyed the video to where it will show the most helpful means of identification. Computer zoom in on grid 349." Everyone in the room gasped as the image was revealed. At this point Data felt he could continue his analysis. He had eventually gotten used to the fact that when certain surprising things were revealed to them, humans needed a few seconds to absorb the information. Even with his emotion chip, this was still something Data had trouble relating to. "The image in question clearly shows the reflection of a Borg drone. It would appear that a good… guess is that the Borg forced the Monasian leader to say these words and the collective is in control of the world's government. It is also safe to say that the distress call we picked up was legitimate and there are Monasians still alive on that planet; Monasians that may need our help now."

"So," Picard stated, "we can either deal with a Borg presence in Federation Space or try to rescue _Voyager_. Well, if they are no objections, I'll contact Starfleet Command." Picard paused to see if anyone would speak up. Nobody did so he dismissed his senior staff and sent a subspace message to Starfleet. He would have to wait a couple of hours before getting a response.

The star ship _Voyager_ was orbiting the third planet in system 5578 of the Delta Quadrant. Captain Janeway sat in her Captains chair on the bridge eagerly awaiting the scans to be complete. She was wondering what it was about this system that Seven of Nine thought was interesting enough to bring _Voyager_ here. There is a possibility that Seven thought all of the systems were equally interesting and randomly chose system 5578, but Janeway thought that that would be unlikely. Borg logic is relatively simple, so Janeway figured that they would find something that you won't see in the Alpha Quadrant here. 

Harry Kim bent his knees to prevent locking them. He was waiting for the computer to finish analyzing the third planet in the 5,578th discovered system in the Delta Quadrant. He was very uncomfortable and hated the idea of standing so much. Kim was not the type to complain though, but he always wanted to ask the designers of this ship what they were thinking when put so few chairs on the bridge. He glanced over at Lieutenant Tuvok, who stood at his station like a statue, occasionally he would glance and observe constant technical readouts being taken and reports that came in every so often from the different decks. _I bet,_ Kim thought, _he never gets uncomfortable!_ The Ensign knew this was an unfair comparison though because Vulcans had different bio-chemical makeup than humans and were not bothered by things like dramatic temperature variations, extreme anxiety before battles, or standing. Kim's glance next wandered to his friend, the helmsman Tom Paris, who was slouching comfortably in his chair. Kim quietly sighed with the thought; _Too bad I don't get a chair… or even a stool. _

Suddenly, the quiet serenity of the bridge was interrupted by a beeping sound from the tactical station. Lieutenant Tuvok glanced down at his panel and said, "Captain sensors are detecting a large vessel entering this sector."

Janeway stood up to face her Chief of Security. "Can you identify the ship Mister Tuvok?"

"Negative Captain, but it does appear to be heavily armed. Perhaps the enhanced astrometrical scanners would provide more detail or an identification."

"Janeway to Seven of Nine."

"Yes Captain?" was the calm response from Seven.

"I trust you noticed the vessel that entered the sector. We are having trouble figuring out who's ship this is, but with your knowledge from the Borg and the astrometrical scans I was hoping you might have a better idea of what we're looking at."

"I have indeed been examining it Captain," Seven responded, "the vessels configuration is not familiar to me, but it does appear to be Borg. It is pyramid shaped with an estimated mass of…"

"Thank you Seven, Janeway out." 

Tuvok looked up with alarm, "Captain, this vessel may be threatening to us in the near future. I strongly suggest you consider following it to determine the Borg Collective's latest aggression. We need all the tactical data on them that we can get."

"I don't want to risk a confrontation Mr. Tuvok," Janeway said, "nevertheless you do bring up a good point. We'll follow at a distance and see what is going on. Take the ship to red alert."

Several minutes later Commander Chakotay walked on to the bridge. He looked around, everything seemed normal, but something wasn't or else the ship would not be at red alert. "What's been going on here?" he asked.

Captain Janeway looked up and smiled, "Ahh, Commander, I heard you were on vacation."

"I was, but then the ship went to red alert. It doesn't look like we're under attack or anything. I'm beginning to wonder what the emergency is."

"Long range sensors detected a Borg vessel shaped like a pyramid. We're going to follow it to assess its strength and see what the Collective's been up to."

"Following a Borg vessel," said Chakotay, "are you sure that's wise? It sounds to me like we're almost hoping for battle." Chakotay's joke showed that he was relaxed from his shore leave. He was not focused as much as he normally would be, yet. Also he was not planning on being on duty today. The commander somehow did not have the usual butterflies that were common when he was forced to encounter the Borg. Maybe he was just getting used to the idea of beating them in battle. Overconfidence is never positive.

"Approaching the location of the Borg ship," announced Tom Paris, "and it looks like they're just waiting there at a barren planet."

"Janeway to Seven."

"Seven here Captain."

"Do you have any idea what the Borg doing at a barren world?"

"Yes Captain," Seven said, "they appear to be extracting a resource from the surface. Element 354 which is found only in the Delta Quadrant - in very few places but high concentrations."

"What can the Borg do with this resource?"

"I… do not know. Element 354 was concluded as useless. However, scans indicate they may be using it as a fuel supply."

"Well," Chakotay said, "I guess we have front row seats for a demonstration of the Borg's latest and greatest technology. Harry, you're sure the cu… pyramid can't detect us here."

Harry Kim began analyzing the star system they were in. "The obstacles between us and the diamond should provide a good screen against their sensors. I'd say that they'd have to be looking for us specifically to find us. Although with all this new technology developed, I can't make any guarantees."

"Ya' know," said Janeway, "I wonder where they did get all of this technology. It looks like they've made several large break throughs recently."

"I don't know." Commander Chakotay was nervous and in awe at the same time. Everyone on _Voyager_ knew that, compared with them, the Borg were technologically superior. Unfortunately, the collective never learned to put their advanced technology to better use, but with great weapons and a lust for assimilation the Borg were extremely dangerous. At first _Voyager _was just lucky, and in recent encounters Seven of Nine had been a big help because she was familiar with Borg technology. But now, even Seven would have a hard time figuring what this new technology was about.

Lieutenant Tuvok looked at the readout of his sensor sweep. Something was strange. He double-checked the reading and then said, "This is most unusual." He kept re-checking the sensor images. Those around him looked at him with concern. Tuvok looked up and when he noticed the attention on him he was as close to blushing as Vulcans get. He checked the sensors one last time and finally reported, "It appears that the Borg vessel is not orbiting the planet. Although its mass is smaller than the planet's the planet is orbiting the Borg ship. The new Borg ship must be able to somehow increase its gravimetric pressure. This is something that could be used in a very dangerous way. Especially with the Borg controlling it." 

Flashes and beeps went off at Tom Paris's station. He gulped, "Captain, the Borg ship is heading this way."

"Could they have spotted us?" Chakotay asked.

Harry Kim replied, "We have no way of knowing."

"So," Chakotay said, "we either stand still and hope they didn't spot us, or run like hell and hope they don't follow. What's it going to be Captain?" Chakotay looked at Janeway waiting for an answer.

Captain Janeway was torn. Chakotay did give some good options, but one he didn't mention was landing the ship on a moon and hoping the Borg wouldn't spend too much time scanning it to see what was on the surface. The problem was that with all this new technology who could say what the Borg could do. She had three choices and no idea which one was the best. This was one of the few times in the Captain's career that she had absolutely no idea what she should do. The last time she was this clue less was when _Voyager_ first got lost in the Delta Quadrant. At that time she needed to tell her crew something. That situation was not a battle (although they could still all end up dead from being trapped in the Delta Quadrant) so she did have some time. In this case though, she knew if she asked her crew they could find some good justification for all three reasons, but in the end she was the one who had to make the tough choice. Janeway knew that the reason she was in command was because she could make the right choice at the crucial moments. In this case, the best thing to do would be to trust her experience as a leader and go with her gut instinct. Her problem was she had no gut instinct. This was one of those times when everyone wanted to let someone else worry about it. If they were in the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway would probably get her ship to the nearest Starbase, outpost, or other ship, contact an admiral and let the bureaucrats worry about this one. She, regretfully, couldn't do that here. The big choice was hers and hers alone.

The _Enterprise_ warped at maximum speeds racing towards the Trans-Warp conduit. Commander Riker still couldn't believe that five Borg cubes were in Federation territory. Captain Picard's orders from Starfleet were to get to _Voyager_ and see if the ship had any tactical updates to give on the Borg and if they knew anything of this invasion. After all the Borg are originally from the Delta Quadrant, and there was still so much Starfleet didn't know about them. Right now though, Riker wanted to know more about the Monasian situation. If the Borg were going to assimilate the world than why would they try to hide their presence? How long has it been since the Borg assimilated Monasian Prime? Was their anybody to help on the surface, and if so, will they be there later? It was unfortunate that the Enterprise was needed to retrieve _Voyager_ because the Monasians needed help. Besides Riker had a funny feeling that there was something very important about Monasian Prime. If not, than the Borg would not have assimilated the planet before their invasion of the Federation. Invasion of the Federation… suddenly Riker realized that despite abandoning the Monasians the survival of the Federation may depend on them finding the_ U.S.S._ _Voyager_.

**__**


	5. Chapter 4

C4 **__**

The _Defiant_ had just left Deep Space Nine and was racing at full impulse out of the Bajorian System, waiting to go to warp and get away from the Borg cubes. The first of the three Borg vessels came into DS9's weapon range. The station fired an armada of photon and quantum torpedoes and never stopped firing phasers at rotating frequencies. Worf's idea was that since he didn't know where to hit a Borg cube, he would have to try to hit it everywhere and hopefully he could do some serious damage. Against only one of the cubes the phaser beams were programmed to sweep the perimeter of the cube, while the photon and quantum torpedoes focused on the center. Before the other two cubes came into weapons range, the station had approximately three minutes to bombard the lead cube. Apparently something went right and after two minutes of non-stop weapons fire the cube exploded.

The scene on the bridge of the _U.S.S. Defiant_ was that everyone was tense. Would the station's weapons be successful and could the Borg catch the maneuverable little ship? These were the two questions that they all wanted to know. If the engineers at the Utopia Planitia Shipyard really did succeed in designing the _Defiant_ as a battleship that could give any Borg vessel a good fight, than they were okay. However, this was only one of the first times Sisko's ship faced a Borg vessel, and the captain was not too sure.

"Success!" Worf announced. They was no need for more explanation. They all knew that the station's massive weapons array had succeeded in obliterating the first Borg cube.

"Well," said Captain Sisko, "that's one down two to go." His cold words put an end to the premature celebration that had begun to brew on the bridge. Those few words gave Sisko's crew the perspective on the situation once more. The realization of the dire peril the Federation would face. The Dominion War caused the fleets to be weaker than normal and a Borg invasion was not good timing at all. 

The two Borg ships stopped just shy of entering the station's weapons range. One of the cubes went to one side the other stayed. This way the station was surrounded. The ships lurched forward as they approached DS9. As soon as they could they began firing narrow precise beams at the station until they disabled the weapons array. Deep Space Nine did not accumulate damage to any system other than weapons. One of the Borg cubes headed off in another direction and the other set course to intercept the _Defiant_.

Meanwhile, the _Defiant_ had gone into warp. The crew knew that they were being chased by one Borg cube, but they could not be sure whether or not the station's weapons had destroyed the other cube. What was even more disturbing to the crew was that they were out of sensor range when the two Borg ships approached the station so they didn't know if the Borg had destroyed the station. 

"Any suggestions on how we might evade or preferably destroy that cube?" Sisko asked.

"Well sir," O'Brien started, "Borg vessels have less thruster ability and more mass than our ship. So, if we could lure them to a strong gravity well we could fly closer to the event horizon then them. The Borg are aggressive, I don't see why it wouldn't work."

O'Brien sounded confident, which to Sisko meant they were in pretty good shape. "And what kind of gravity well do we need, Chief?

"A black hole sounds perfect," commented Dax, "what do you think Chief?"

"Well," said Chief O'Brien, "that could work, but my concern is that by nature black holes are very unstable which makes it tricky to predict accurate measures of gravimetric pressure and intensity. Unfortunately, gravity wells are sparse so we might not have a choice."

"So," asked Sisko, "what would be a better alternative."

"Hmm," said O'Brien, "I'm not going to say that it wouldn't be difficult, but when a sun goes nova it does produce a more predictable gravity well. Better make sure the metaphasic shields are working, though." 

Dax looked up at Sisko with a shocked look on her face, "Fly into a supernova! Benjamin that's crazy! Even with metaphasic shields the probability of out running a shock wave is… very low. And another problem, do you think that we just going to find a star going nova? That's a lot of convenience." She read the look right off a Chief O'Brien's face and didn't have to hear his words to say what was next. "You're not actually suggesting we create a supernova? That has an unpredictability factor of its own!"

"That's true," O'Brien countered. He was not usually this eager to debate with someone as old as Dax, but in this case he truly felt that he was correct, "but the key to this plan is being able to predict the gravity conditions so that we know what limits we have. Captain, I think we must take the risk."

Dax had one last thing to say, "If we lure the Borg into the nova what does gravity have to do with anything? Surely the explosion would be powerful enough to destroy them."

"The Borg," O'Brien explained, "are still powerful and can probably escape a supernova. However, if the _Defiant_ and the cube are the same distance from a star and we initiate a nova, then the Borg will be effected by the gravity more than the _Defiant_. The hard part will be to determine what distance we need to be at to be able to escape, but at the same distance the cube would be trapped."

Captain Sisko had to decide one simple thing: is it worth the risk? As he began considering the choice, the famous words that Captain Kirk said to Captain Harriman during the famous _Enterprise-B_ mission came to mind, "Risk is part of the game, if you want sit in that chair."

"Captain," reported Ensign Nog, "six Jem'Hadar ships are on an intercept course with the Borg cube!"

"What?" Sisko said, "engage the cloaking the device and continue to run. On screen, I do want to see how this battle turns out."

The Borg cube and the six Jem'Hadar battle ships came out of warp ready for battle. The Borg waited to adapt to the Jem'Hadar weapons, and the Jem'Hadar did not hold anything back causing considerable damage to the Borg vessel. But when the Borg attacked the Jem'Hadar were in some trouble. Even with 42% of its systems disabled the cube managed to fire five sharp beams at the Jem'Hadar. Within a matter of mere seconds the Borg had destroyed five Jem'Hadar ships! The vorta of the sixth Jem'Hadar ship was actually looking as if she were going to retreat. Unfortunately, the Borg were not that merciful, the cube locked its renowned tractor beam on the ship and started to board it to assimilate the crew.

As the first Borg drone boarded her ship the vorta captain looked at it astonishment, she had never seen or heard of the Borg before. Her Jem'Hadar shipmates were that foolish and immediately opened fire. It did not take though for the Borg to adapt to the frequencies of the Jem'Hadar weapons. The vorta was not quick enough and was easily assimilated. The Jem'Hadar were not that straight forward. They were programmed to fight fierce hand to hand battles any intruders. Most of the drones were literally ripped apart before they could become a threat, but they were a few cases in which one of the Borg were able to inject their nanoprobes into a Jem'Hadar. Interestingly, the Borg found that they could not assimilate Jem'Hadar.

On the bridge of the _Defiant_ nobody knew what to say or think. Who to go for, the Jem'Hadar or the Borg. The Dominion conflict had cost the Federation huge casualties, but the Borg were making a move to annihilate the Federation in one swift (and devastating) blow. The Borg may be the greater threat, but all of the officers could not deny that it gave them great satisfaction to see one ship do this much damage to the Dominion. 

Captain Sisko knew that he had to take charge. Even with just watching, the _Defiant_ crew had figured out that the Borg could not assimilate the Jem'Hadar soldiers. "Dr. Bashir, how come the Borg are having trouble assimilating the Jem'Hadar troops?"

"I don't know," replied Bashir, who was still a bit astounded. Luckily for him, his genetically engineered brain allowed to gather himself quicker and smoother than most other humans, "we know that the Jem'Hadar were designed by the Founders to be warriors, hard to kill ones at that. They wouldn't have had the Borg in mind, but I don't think the nanoprobes can penetrate the Jem'Hadar's thick skin."

"I wonder what the Borg will do with the Jem'Hadar ship now?" Sisko thought aloud.

Bashir spoke up again, "They will probably destroy it."

"All right," Sisko said, "de-cloak and set coarse for the Borg cube. The Jem'Hadar did cause some damage, so, we're going to try to use the ship's damage to knock out enough of their systems to make them in operable."

"After all," joked Chief O'Brien, "we only need to disable 75% of their systems."

The star ship _Voyager's _crew had generated a subspace field around the ship in order to mask their energy signatures. The Borg pyramid did not seem to be looking for _Voyager_ or aware that there was another vessel in the system. They still might have known _Voyager_ was there, but either way the new Borg ship apparently did not care.

Captain Janeway and the rest of her bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief as the massive Borg pyramid passed right by their ship. Except Lieutenant Commander Tuvok who did not express emotional and irrational feelings. It was far too illogical to do those things like: sigh, laugh, and cry… He did report that the ship had passed by _Voyager_ without incident, "The Borg vessel has passed beyond the range of short range sensors. It is now highly improbable that we will be detected."

"Thank you Mr. Tuvok," Janeway said. She wanted to stall to give herself as much time as possible to make a decision. There was still more to be learned from this new Borg technology, but she had just gotten a fully dramatized demonstration of what the risks involved were.

"What's next captain?" said Chakotay. He knew immediately what Janeway was trying to do. He did feel that delays were not good in this situation because despite his view to stay away from the Borg, he was well-aware that there was a good chance his captain would not agree with him and want to spy more on the Borg ship. Also when one deals with the Borg a lot they learn not to stay in one place for too long because the Borg may decide to come and assimilate a few more drones into their collective. 

Janeway quickly considered her options. She personally, was dying to learn more of this new Borg technology, but the safety of her ship did come first. Besides she had done enough exploring for one day. The primary mission of the ship was to get back to the Alpha Quadrant. Looking at the big picture she made her decision, "We were lucky earlier today, lets not push our luck. Mr. Paris set course for home." After giving Ensign Paris his orders Janeway exchanged looks with Commander Chakotay. He nodded his head in approval, and she pressed her lips together and looked down as she turned away to show him that she was pleased. She knew Tuvok would have followed the Borg so she glanced back at her tactical officer. Unlike Chakotay, Tuvok acted like a proper officer and showed no concern with the decision already made by the captain. He merely raised an eyebrow in quizzical disapproval of the captain seeking an opinion from him after finalizing a decision. Janeway smiled thinking that when it comes to Tuvok, she should know better.

_Voyager_ left the solar system and blasted off at maximum warp toward the Alpha Quadrant. Once the ship got a few light years away from where they left it was clear that nobody was pursuing them. In fact, there were no ships within long range sensor range. The ship was more delayed than expected wandering the sector they were about to leave for nearly six hours.

"I guess now that the emergency is over," said Commander Chakotay, "I'll be heading back to cargo bay three."

"Not so fast," Janeway said, "we still don't what the Borg are up to and what they plan to do with their new toy. Until we get more data or feel safer that there is no harm to be done I'm putting the ship at yellow alert."

"The Borg causing no harm," Chakotay mused, "that doesn't happen very often."

"Which," said Janeway, "is why vacation will have to wait."

**__**


	6. Chapter 5

C5 **__**

Captain Picard sat in his ready room knowing that in a few minutes he would have to supervise his ship's attempt to navigate through the old Trans-Warp conduit. On his desk were various pads consisting of reports that he needed to read and write, just the typical paperwork that a Starfleet captain was responsible for. Picard was not looking at his pads, he was thinking of his mission and the Borg and most of all how tired he was of war. First the Dominion and now the Borg again, so soon after their last attack. He had joined Starfleet so that he could explore the galaxy and discover new and wonderful missions. He remembered when the _Enterprise-D's_ mission was: "…to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before." And now his mission was to defend the United Federation of Planets. He was not going to say that the defense was unnecessary, that would be foolish. In fact, Picard knew full well what the war effort was all about and he also supported it fully. Still, he wished that the galaxy's different species could just get along and explore together. The realization that it didn't work like that truly saddened him. 

When the Dominion captured Deep Space Nine Captain Sisko's father had commented, "You're always telling me that space is big, that it's an endless frontier filled with infinite wonders."

Sisko had interrupted saying; "It's true."

His father continued talking and said; "If that's the case then you'd think that would be more than enough room for people to leave each other alone."

"It just doesn't work that way," Sisko had said, "it should, but it doesn't."

Of course Captain Picard didn't know of this conversation, but he was still feeling the same kind of frustration of all the wars that were going on. The captain would not falter in his duty or attitude because he had previous battle experience to fall back on. The truth was that battle was something that Picard wished he didn't have to face: it isn't easy, it causes a large amount of population decrease, and to Picard there was no longer any point in fighting for territory. Since if one looked one could find something better some where else. Unfortunately, the sad realization Picard came to was that it was easier to take something from someone else rather than find something just as good or better in a different place. Now the captain looked down at the latest tactical report from the Dominion War. 

"Riker to Picard."

"Go ahead, Number One."

"Captain we're approaching the coordinates of the Trans-Warp conduit, we'll be dropping out of warp in a minute."

Picard took a deep breath, "Acknowledged, I'm on my way."

The doors to Captain Picard's ready room hissed open and he stepped onto his bridge. As he headed toward the captain's chair he saw Ensign Regal quietly working at tactical, probably conducting sensor sweeps to determine if they were other ships or anomalous readings. The captain silently shook his head a little knowing that nothing would be found. Next, he looked up at Counselor Troi who smiled at him; she knew what he was just thinking about. Picard looked at Data who was studying readouts and information regarding the conduit itself. Even after all these years Picard was still amazed at how quickly his android officer could work the computer. As Data rapidly cycled through the information his fingers looked like a golden blur, and his head looked very odd as it bobbed back and fourth as Data read the information on his console from left to right. Picard's gaze now turned to Ensign Keyes who was waiting to take the ship out of warp when they reached the proper coordinates. Finally, Picard saw his first officer Will Riker standing in between his usual seat and the captain's chair to brief Picard. In this case, there was nothing else he could really tell Picard, but all the _Enterprise's_ command officers had gotten used to filling in the new bridge commander just before getting relieved of the duty; so, Riker would say something.

"Captain," Riker started, "we're just about to drop out of warp, and I thought you would personally like to oversee this little voyage."

As they sat down Picard agreed, "Yes, Number One, this is a very important little journey and no mistakes can afford to be made."

Counselor Troi nearly jumped out of her chair as the strong emotion pulsated into her. Instead she quietly took a deep breath and focused on who was expressing such anxiety. It was Ensign Keyes, _Not a surprise,_ Deanna thought. The young ensign didn't take comfort in Picard's remark that no mistakes could be tolerated. Keyes was on of the best pilots at the academy, but he lacked experience in serving in real situations. He was getting more confident in battle situations, but this was different; in battle if you turn the wrong way the pilot only has to compensate by straightening out the ship and turning the wrong way, but in this case a wrong turn means the end. Troi allowed a very small smile to break out on her face as she thought, _Maybe someone should tell him there are no turns in a Trans-Warp conduit._ Despite his nervousness Troi knew he'd do fine, the ship was designed to move straight so he would have to be trying to slip up.

Commander Riker looked past Captain Picard and saw Counselor Troi with a faint smile on her face. He wondered what she could possibly find so amusing at a time like this. A priority one assignment from Starfleet Command was no laughing matter. Suddenly, he got the impression that the helmsman was nervous. Deanna somehow sent him a telepathic message to satisfy his curiosity. He asked himself if he would every truly understand Betazoid telepathy.

"Ensign Keyes," Riker asked excitedly, "are you ready to fly through the Trans-Warp conduit? It should be quite a ride!"

"Yes sir," he responded, and then under his breath "quite a ride." The young officer could not hide the fear in his voice. He tried to sound enthusiastic, but he realized it didn't work so well. Everyone must have picked up on it, and in an embarrassing disgust he sank lower in his chair and looked down intently at his console hoping desperately something would happen soon.

Keyes's nervousness caused all the senior staff on the bridge to be mildly amused. Except Data of course, who despite an emotion chip still had more control than humans and felt that it was inappropriate to laugh at someone's fears. Ensign Regal was someone who would usually be amused by this situation too, but she was feeling just as much anxiety as Keyes was. Regal had just arrived on the _Enterprise_ about a week ago while Keyes had been on the ship for about a month. This could be Regal's first chance to prove herself in battle, and she didn't want to come off as a bad tactical officer. 

Everyone's mood changed and Ensign Keyes spoke in his best calm monotone voice that he could muster under the circumstances, 

"Dropping out of warp now. ETA to conduit two minutes fifteen seconds."

Ensign Regal thought it might be appropriate to report something so she said, "Sensors report no anomalous readings in the area."

Captain turned to look at Regal surprised to hear her say anything, "Thank you, Ensign," Picard said in a tone that said, _No harm done, but it is unnecessary so, in the future, don't do it again._

Regal felt humiliated and she became a little depressed over her embarrassing report. Troi sensed the emotions in her, and wished she could go and offer the ensign her support and remind her that it was all right. This was an inappropriate time. Meanwhile the rest of the bridge crew waited silently, not really knowing what exactly to expect.

Will Riker shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Deanna looked over at him understanding his problem. Riker was not a patient man. He got up and asked, "Time until we reach the coordinates?"

"Thirty seconds," Keyes responded.

Twenty-five seconds later Keyes said, "Approaching the Trans-Warp Conduit."

"Initiating conduit entrée procedure," Data announced.

"Mr. La Forge," Picard said, "How are the engines doing?"

La Forge took a moment but then said, "Everything checks out sir. We're ready down here."

"Very well, Picard out."

As the Enterprise began traveling at Trans-Warp no one on the bridge spoke. This was good actually. It meant that nothing was wrong. Most of the bridge officers were now in a standard posture, and some were a little less tense because the moment had finally arrived. Picard sat slouching in his command chair with his distracted gaze was directed at the main viewer. He was no doubt thinking about his past encounters with the Borg. Counselor Troi was also not in her standard posture. She sat with her left crossed on top of her right leg with all of her fingers comfortably intertwined resting just below her stomach. Her head was bowed down and her eyes were closed. She took deep breaths from her nose as she tried to focus on not absorbing the rest of the crew's feelings. To her it seemed as if everybody's emotions were heightened as the _Enterprise_ was in Trans-Warp. She had a large assortment of strong emotions all bombarding her at once. Troi and the rest of the senior staff were pretty relaxed, since they traveled in Trans-Warp before. Most of the junior officers on board hadn't, and from them she got an array of strong emotions all at once. Troi was sensing fear, anxiety, pleasure (from those off duty and not at a window), embarrassment, frustration, confusion, disorientation, and relief all at the same time. She knew that with enough concentration and enough will she could overcome her senses and keep herself in control. This was one of those times where Troi felt like she was in a battle that needed to be one. She never really knew if her Starfleet training influenced this thought or if all of the Betazoid people felt the same way when feeling multiple strong emotions. Soon all the bridge crew took a sigh of relief and Troi felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she heard a very sweet sound.

"Captain," Data spoke as if nothing had happened, "we have successfully arrived on the other side of the Trans-Warp conduit."

"Good," Picard said, "I suspect at this point _Voyager_ will not be easy to find. Begin the search Mr. Data. In the mean time I have other things to take care of. The bridge is yours Number One."

Riker nodded and Troi smiled as everything was back to normal.

"Data," Riker asked, "about how long will it take to search the area for the ship?"

"It will take roughly seven hour fourteen minutes assuming we do not search the surrounding star systems."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Begin the scans." Riker said as he sat down in the captain's chair. Preparing himself for a long wait.

The _Defiant_ approached the damaged Borg cube ready to attack. The bridge was quiet, too quiet. Everyone knew that something was bound to happen soon. Captain Sisko was determined not to be the one to start the fighting with the Borg if he could help it. To some it may have seemed a foolish order, but that's part of being in Starfleet. A Starfleet officer isn't suppose to have a lust for blood like the Klingons do. When Sisko ordered to hold position and let the Borg decide what will happen, he was thinking of what Admiral Ross had told him once. "A Starfleet officer is always the diplomat." Sisko wasn't stupid either; he was not prepared to give the Borg much time to regenerate. He had also ordered that the _Defiant_ to sway back and forth making it harder for the Borg to lock on their weapons. 

Finally something happened. "Captain," Worf reported, "the cube is attempting to lock its tractor beam on us."

Sisko's response was swift, "Dax I want constant evasive maneuvers. Don't let them lock on Old Man."

"Sir," O'Brien said, sounding excited, "there is a large gash on one the cube's side. It leads almost to the ship's central processing node. If we can get there and destroy the node, the cube won't have a chance. The gash or tunnel I'm hoping is small, but I think we can navigate through it."

Sisko glanced left, then right just to get a little look at each of his bridge crew. "Reroute auxiliary power to shields and weapons, we're going in."

"All right everyone," Dax said, "prepare for a bumpy ride."

Sisko smiled, "Those are the best kind. Doctor Bashir be ready for casualti…"

Bashir interrupted, "I've been monitoring the situation from down here, Sir. I'm as ready as ever."

This was something Sisko was happy to hear and for a moment he lost his strong commanding voice, "Good work Julian."

Dax reported, "We're approaching the gash in the hull." She realized something else and was about to speak, but Sisko beat her to it.

"Mr. Worf," the captain waited until Worf turned around to face him, "set shields on modulating frequencies."

"Aye sir," Worf said as he carried out his commands.

Dax had noticed that Sisko was doing everything the best possible way. His strategy was good considering it was the Borg. He was making all the right decisions, and had a perfect balance of risk involved in those decisions. She decided to comment on her captain's performance. "Benjamin," she said, "since when did you get so clever."

Sisko responded with a wry smile, "Well, I always told you there was a little bit of Kurzon Dax in me." This brought a pleasant smile to Jadzia's face. Suddenly, the _Defiant_ was flying inside the Borg cube. The ship's entrée into the Borg vessel was accompanied by a ship wide felt jolt caused by a gravitational shift. Sisko opened a channel to the whole ship; "All hands prepare for extreme turbulence." He closed that channel and said, "Chief, take the food replicators off line, we have plenty of rations, and dim the lights 25%. Divert the extra power to the inertial dampers." 

Dax worked quickly compensating for the twists, turns, and sudden narrowing of the path. She was doing her best to make it a smooth ride, but she was not succeeding. Every few seconds the ship would jerk hard to the left or the right, and dip down then soar back upward or vice versa. Just when things were looking good path wise the ship would hit a piece of debris and those in chairs would rock back then fourth and those standing would easily loose their footing. At this time the Trill was very happy that she had life times of experience behind her to pilot the craft. She drew confidence in thinking, Who else could be this prepared to fly a starship into another starship. She was also beginning to think that the vast amount of controls at the helm station actually had uses after all. When she first saw the buttons she was wondering how any pilot could find a way to use some of them ever. Now Dax was using all of them, and couldn't say whether or not she could be doing this without all of the controls. Suddenly, the ship dipped and rolled to the left just barely making a very narrow opening. They made it without a scratch, but Jadzia was thankful that Ben added power to the inertial dampers. 

Sisko was getting a little queasy from all of this. Normally, he never had any problems with space sickness. This was a rough ride and up until now he kept telling himself that, if it wasn't Dax at the helm, it would be a rougher ride, but that last big jolt was enough to get him a little more motivated to do something about this roller coaster ride! He walked to Dax's station barely able to prevent himself from falling. He said, "Keep her steady,"

Dax knew who said that remark, and because she was working extremely hard to keep the ship smooth, she responded with a hint of irritation in her voice, "I'm working on it! Don't worry too much, we're almost to the center."

Sisko accepted her answer; there wasn't anything he could do. He suddenly became interested in tactical, "Mr. Worf, are weapons ready?"

"All weapons systems on-line. I just need a target."

Dax navigated the ship around a tight turn. After that she saw the central processing node, then she saw something else. An extremely small opening coming up. It was too late for weapons to make it bigger. She knew the ship would make it, but it would bump both sides back and forth like a pinball. She took a deep breath and warned, "Okay everyone, hold on tight!"

The _Defiant_ hit the right side of the opening first. Bouncing off the right the ship slammed into the left the side with incredible force. Fortunately, the shields held and deflected them back the other way again. For a moment it seemed the ship would make it without that much trouble, but only for a moment. Some metal on the right side just barely snagged the ship. Before anyone knew what was happening the ship was doing barrel rolls. Dax responded quickly, but the grand finale of the trek through the Borg cube meant three barrel rolls for the _Defiant_. Artificially gravity held up well; still everyone was a little disoriented. The main view screen showed the ship's target. 

Sisko gathered himself and looked up at the screen, "Mr. Worf?"

"Weapons ready!" Worf said with Klingon fierceness in his voice.

Captain Sisko inhaled a deep breath and said, "Fire!"

The _Defiant_ gave the Borg central processing node a full entourage, firing phasers at rotating frequencies, photon and quantum torpedoes all at once. The collective's ability to adapt was not quick enough. The _Defiant's_ attack was a huge success. Do to underestimation of the Federation, the Borg never saw it coming. All drone motion ceased, as they were cut from the collective, and their ship erupted in flames. And as the massive cube met its end the explosion seemed to light the cosmos. Then the cold darkness of space returned, the attack left no Borg survivors from the cube, and lessened the burden for the entire Federation.

**__**


	7. Chapter 6

Prologue

On the Borg pyramid the collective's presence was so strong that their voice could be heard at all times near the center of the ship. The Borg were heading toward coordinates where the nearest Trans-Warp conduit leading to Federation Space was located. The Borg can't create more Trans-Warp conduits without risking a completely unpredictable disruption in space. They didn't care; they had established the most efficient means of space travel in the galaxy. 

Near the center of the pyramid the collective's voice spoke. "Federation vessel detected. Trans-Warp signature detected. Old conduit thought to be collapsed is functional. New route quicker and more centrally located. Adjusting course to newly found alternate route."

__

Voyager's captain was a bit relieved that the huge Borg pyramid was not in pursuit of her ship. She was also a little disappointed though. Janeway felt uneasy knowing that there was a huge piece of Borg technology roaming the galaxy causing treachery and she did not know what it was up to. If she and her crew only could find a way to stop it they would undoubtedly save billions of lives. She sighed knowing that her decision to put her ship's safety above helping those she had never met was right still…

"Engineering to bridge."

"Go ahead B'leanna," Janeway replied.

"Captain," said the ship's chief engineer, "the gravity from the Borg ship looks to have affected our engines."

"How so?" Janeway asked.

"I don't really know but the gyros are all screwed up. I'm thinking we might have to stop for a couple of hours and re-calibrate."

"I don't like that idea. We've already been delayed enough today, and I'd like to avoid stopping. Plus the farther we get away from the Borg ship the better."

"Agreed Captain. I'll try to fix it so that we can wait until we stop at a planet for supplies next."

"Very well Lieutenant, Janeway out."

Janeway was just about to breathe a sigh of relief because _Voyager_ wouldn't have to stop. Then Tom Paris said something. "Captain, the Borg ship has changed course and is heading this way."

"Are they after us?" Janeway asked.

Tuvok responded, "They are not on an intercept course with _Voyager_."

Chakotay stood up, "That doesn't mean they won't stop to assimilate us on their way to wherever they're going."

"I don't know," Janeway speculated, "the collective ignored us last time…"

"Are you willing to take that risk," Chakotay said obviously concerned and back to his normal self, "I see it like this: the Borg assimilate species, they have a new ship we don't anything about, we were lucky earlier today; do you really want to push are luck?"

"As a Starfleet vessel it would be are obligation to learn what we can about the ship," Janeway said.

"Kathryn," Chakotay said, getting quite confrontational, "sorry to be blunt but as you know we're a long way from the Federation. Gathering technical data is pointless. Who are you going to give to? It's not like there are any Federation vessels around that…"

"Don't be so sure Commander," said Lieutenant Paris, "I'm picking up a Federation transponder code just ahead."

"Checking," said a skeptical Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, "it is correct Captain. A Federation vessel just ahead."

Chakotay was looking back at Tuvok as Janeway stared at Paris. They were both utterly shocked. To keep their command posture and attitude solid both captain and first officer focused on thinking that _Voyager_ would have to get home with no help from the Federation. The chances favored this anyway, and as the holographic doctor would remind the crew, false hopes can lead to depression if your hopes elevate and fall too often. But now the possibility was real, it was here. Could this ship really take them back to Federation territory? Everyone was too shocked to do anything.

Paris was a guy who could take anything pretty well, so he wasn't in much awe. Neither was Tuvok, but that's what's to be expected from a Vulcan. Paris was beginning to wonder if anybody was going to say anything. "Uhh, Captain," Paris said, "should I alter course?"

Janeway heard Tom's question, but still needed to compose herself. She responded to his question by saying, "Yes, you do that Mr. Paris, you do that."

The _Enterprise_ was just about to give up their search for _Voyager_. Riker was beginning to wonder if the ship was even out there. Granted they should be ahead of this position by now, but no ion trail indicates they were never here. As he was about to find out, they never were.

"Commander," Data said, "sensors are picking up a Federation ship."

"_Voyager_?" Riker asked.

"It would seem that is the case Commander."

"Riker to Picard. Sir, I suggest you report to the bridge we've found _Voyager_ and they will be entering hailing range shortly. We're already on intercept courses with each other."

Moments later Captain Picard entered the bridge. "Open hailing frequencies."

"Aye, Sir." Ensign Regal said.

"This Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship _Enterprise_."

Captain Janeway appeared on the viewscreen. "I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the _U.S.S. Voyager_. Speaking on my entire crew's behalf we're glad to see you Captain."

"Acknowledged Captain. But now there is a Borg invasion of the Federation taking place so we should head back through the Trans-Warp conduit we used to get here now."

"Is it the pyramid?" Janeway asked.

"Pyramid?" Picard was puzzled; "we don't anything about a pyramid."

"Captain," Janeway said, "my ship has had a lot of contact with the Borg since we arrived in the Delta Quadrant. We never saw this new ship until today, but it is so big it put a planet in orbit around it. I believe it poses a serious threat."

"I see," said Picard, "we should set up a data transfer line as soon as we reach Federation Space."  
"Agreed," Janeway said, "I am happy to say we have valuable tactical information that should help extinguish the vessels already in Federation Space. Unfortunately, we don't know anything about this pyramid."

"Understood," Picard said, "you should be receiving the conduits coordinates now."

"Confirmed," Janeway stated, then she took a lighter tone, "Captain one more thing, we have an officer on board who we unassimilated from the collective, a human. Her name is Onaka Hanson, but she was assimilated as a small child and is having a hard time reintegrating into our society. So, she prefers to be called Seven. Anyway, I thought you should know she is an excellent member of my crew, and her expertise on the Borg has proven to be invaluable. You or someone at Starfleet may want to speak with her."

"That sounds like a good idea," Picard said, "we need all the help we can get."

"We should end the communication here. Our brief experiences in Trans-Warp tell us it that it probably won't allow inter vessel communication."

"Our experience tells us the same Captain, Picard out."

The two starships entered the Trans-Warp conduit _Voyager_ followed by the _Enterprise_. The Borg pyramid was still quite a ways behind but gaining ground at an incredibly fast rate. This surprised neither of the ship's captains because the Borg always seemed to be one step ahead of everybody technologically speaking. After the ride through the Trans-Warp conduit the Federation ships once again made contacted one another.

"Sir," Ensign Regal said, "_Voyager_ is hailing us."

"On Screen," Picard said, he waited for Captain Janeway's face to appear on the viewscreen then he continued; "Ah, Captain, what can we do for you?"

"I take it your sensors detected the pyramid."

"Yes when we saw how large it was we figured it was the pyramid you were talking about earlier."

"We have sealed a Trans-Warp conduit before and that might be a good idea here. Anything to give the Federation more time."

"Agreed," Picard said, "transfer your files to us and we'll get to work."

"Captain," said Data, "I do think it is worth it to go to all that trouble. It appears the recent use of the aged conduit has caused it to begin collapsing by itself."

"Did you here that?" Picard asked Janeway.

"Yes," she replied, "I would guess the pyramid is already headed toward another conduit." 

"Sir," Data said, "the conduit's collapse will produce an explosion. This will occur soon so I suggest we alter coarse."

"Computer," asked Riker, "what is the nearest starship?"

__

The nearest Starfleet vessel to the Enterprise's _location is the_ U.S.S. Defiant. 

"Helm set course for the _Defiant_ at warp 7. We'll talk to you when we get their _Voyager_, Picard out."

Once more the two ships raced off this time at a much slower rate. They flew side by side at warp factor 7 and spent the time exchanging information to give each ship the useful information the other was in possession of. Both crews knew that this might very well be the closet thing they get to a peaceful moment in a very long time. Some of the officers would undoubtedly never get anything more peaceful than this trek through space again because they would die in the coming battle.

The Borg cube was blowing up from the inside out. The _Defiant_ was at the core still waiting to make an escape run. They were waiting for the overload to spread system wide and then the whole ship would explode at the same time. It was at that instant that Captain Benjamin Sisko hoped to make his escape run.

"Sir," a nervous Nog said, "shouldn't we leave."

"Calm down Ensign," an irritated Sisko said. Despite how strange it seemed, he knew what he was doing. Yet, in times like these when the crew must trust their captain, someone is always expressing their concerns.

"Benjamin," Dax said, "I don't see what the use is in waiting…"

"I said keep her steady and wait for my command to engage warp engines."

"Aye sir," said Dax, recognizing she must back off.

Sisko watched the viewscreen intently. He started taking deeper breaths through his nose. Then he tapped his right foot on the ground three times in unison with the breathing pattern, got up, and said, "Now! engage engines!"

Dax engaged the _Defiant_ at warp one to clear the explosion. The little ship roared outside of what was just the cube. However, the shock wave from the blast caught up with them and jarred the ship severely. It took about 45 seconds for the _Defiant_ to stop. 

Everything had happened so fast that Sisko needed answers, "Damage report?"

Dax responded first, "The shock wave from the blast hit us."

"Warp drive off line," Chief O'Brien stated.

"Shields down to 8%," Worf reported grimly.

"We didn't travel very far," said Dax, "and I for one don't want to be by this debris when the next Borg ship passes this way."

"It looks the cargo bays took the brunt of damage. We should clean them up before some of those materials explode." O'Brien couldn't believe how many systems were disabled by the shock wave. He could literally talk for hours giving the full damage report. "We only have one-quarter impulse power."

"Nog report to cargo bay two to clean up," Sisko ordered, "damage repair teams focus on warp drive and shields. Let's get to work people."

"Aye sir," Nog said. He got up from his chair and headed toward the cargo bay. Once he got there he was surprised because someone else was there. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't the only in the bay that got him though; it was the person he saw. "Garak?" he said, "I didn't know you were on board."

"Well," Garak explained, "hello Ensign. I talked to Captain Sisko as the station was being evacuated, and he agreed that my resourcefulness might come in useful, so he let me come along. As a Cardasian, I still feel uncomfortable on Bajor."

"Oh," Nog asked, "then what are you doing in this cargo bay?"

"I thought it might be helpful to set all hand phasers to an automatic re-modulation."

"You mean you weren't ordered to do this?" asked Nog who was surprised.

"Ah," Garak explained, "my young friend you forget, I am not a Starfleet officer." Somehow between the Empok Nor incident and the time the two spent together when the Dominion occupied DS9, Garak and Nog had developed a close relationship. Friend might be the wrong word, but they each had mutual self-respect toward one another and most importantly they now trusted each other.

"I was ordered to clean up the cargo bay," Nog said, "you could help me."

"Actually, I was thinking about doing that myself as soon as I finished."

"Perhaps I'll help you finish and then you can help me," offered Nog.

Typical Ferengi behavior Garak thought. Then he said, "That's a deal."

"So," Nog asked, "do really think we'll have to fight Borg drones hand to hand?"

"The chances do seem low, but I've learned to prepare for the unexpected. Besides…" A mechanical approaching the door leading to the hall was heard. "Ensign," Garak whispered, "why don't you go to those containers over there." Nog nodded and obeyed.

A single Borg drone entered the cargo bay. The only thing he saw was what he immediately identified as a Cardasian standing with his face to the wall. The Borg's red beam from its eyepiece focused on Garak's neck as it began shifting to walk directly to Garak. "You will be assimilated," it said, "resistance is futile."

"Oh," said Garak with a smile, "I think not."

Nog jumped out of hiding and attacked the Borg from behind ripping the wires out that were going to the back of the drone's skull. Both Garak and Nog heard more drones coming. Garak tossed the ensign a phaser rifle, took one for himself, and slipped a type 2 phaser up his sleeve before closing the weapons locker.

Nog noticed Garak take the phaser and gave him a quizzical look. Garak said, "One can never be too careful."

Suddenly, the door hissed open once more and Borg drones started filing into the bay. Garak and Nog didn't speak or look at each other; they just stared straight ahead waiting for the Borg to get a little closer. The two men simultaneously opened fire at the Borg drones. Their shots were accurate and didn't miss. The Borg were stupid at times like these, they just kept coming, and Garak and Nog kept shooting them down like flies. Garak allowed himself to crack a smile. It felt so good to kill again; he truly missed working in the Obsidian Order. However, this wasn't as much fun as what he did for the Obsidian Order. There he would torture his suspects, and infiltrate an enemy base and kill them all with poisonous gasses. Of course killing around Starfleet was out of the question, for some reason humans were very strict about issues involving death. Garak glanced over at Nog, the young officer looked very nervous. He almost laughed out loud at the young officer's fright. This sort of killing was very easy; especially since the Borg drones don't have anything to shoot you with. This kind of killing was mindlessly easy, in fact to Garak's kind all killing was easy, and considered a very easy way to dispose of someone. If someone killed their neighbor, they could talk the authorities out of making an arrest if they had a good enough reason. Instead of laughing Garak restricted himself to a mere grin and kept firing his phaser rifle. After a while the Borg stopped coming and on the floor of the cargo bay were sixteen slain Borg drones lying motionless.

Garak, in a laid back, almost gleeful voice, as if he was having the time of his life, "Garak to Captain Sisko, intruder alert." Then Garak walked over to a storage locker and tossed a large disposal bin over in between him and Nog. Nog gave him a puzzled look again so Garak commented, "Ensign, if you hadn't noticed there's quite a mess down here."

On the bridge Sisko and his crew had received Garak's message. Sisko was waiting for one of his officers to confirm what he already suspected. Somehow, when the shields are low the Borg are able to transport through them. Finally, the official report came in.

"Sir," Worf said grimly, "it appears that the intruders were Borg drones. Sixteen in and around cargo bay two. It appears Mr. Garak and Ensign Nog fought them well. There do not appear to be any more, but it will take the computer several minutes to completely scan the ship."

"I don't understand it," O'Brien stated confused for once, "they must be able to transport through the shields when they fall below a certain point."

"Tell me something I don't know," muttered Sisko under his breath.

"What was that Sir?" O'Brien asked, thinking it might have been important.

"Nothing," replied the fatigued captain. Then he asked "So, how low do you think the shields need to be for the Borg to transport through them, 10, 20%?"

"Well," speculated the chief, "that's probably close. Although, because our shields were down to eight percent we can't be too sure."  
"And I suppose there's nothing we can do to our shields to filter out the Borg's transporter beam," said Sisko.

"Nothing I can think of anyway," O'Brien said, "I can run it by the computer and maybe get something, but it's still a long shot."

"Why don't you try Chief," said Sisko.

"Captain," Worf began, actually sounding excited, "internal sensors say there are no more Borg aboard the _Defiant_ and external sensors show two Federation starships on an intercept course."

Sisko became interested, "Which ships, Lieutenant?"

"The _Enterprise_ and _Voyager_," replied Worf.

"_Voyager_?" said Sisko not recognizing the name at first, "they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Picard was ordered to get them out on a priority one assignment. I remember hearing something about that from a friend at Starfleet headquarters."

"Undoubtedly," an even more excited Worf exclaimed, "they have gained much tactical knowledge on the Borg. Battle we will be glorious!"

"Indeed," said Sisko thinking aloud, "and with the Federation's recent battle experience and with _Voyager's_ new found knowledge we have a fighting chance."

The rest of the _Defiant's_ bridge officers were realizing that their captain was absolutely correct. It probably was bad for Sisko to imply that without _Voyager_ they would all die, but it certainly was not a lie. Now the entire Federation was in a position to stay alive. A Borg defeat would give the fleet a needed morale boost in the Dominion War. More morale would be compensated by losses due to the Borg, but more ships would come and the Borg could give the Federation an edge they need against the Dominion. This good news was already giving the _Defiant's_ crew more confidence.


	8. Chapter 7

The _Enterprise, __Voyager, and the __Defiant were holding position in space. On __Voyager, the three captains were in the middle of meeting to decide how the three ships would begin the organized resistance against the Borg invasion. Of the original Borg cubes, the only one not accounted for was the third cube that emerged from the wormhole at Deep Space Nine. All remaining cubes were either destroyed or seen leaving via Trans-Warp, but Listening Posts had already detected the Borg pyramid in Federation Space. Picard, Sisko, and Janeway were attempting to figure out just where the Borg wanted to be. Janeway and Picard were in heavy discussion, and Captain Sisko, looked distant…_

          "Perhaps," Picard was saying, "we should head to Earth."

          "I'd love to see Earth," Janeway said with a great deal of sincerity, "but the truth is, we don't know where the Borg will strike first. Besides, what makes you think we can even put a dent in a ship the size of the pyramid?"

          "Oh," said Picard, "I think we can do considerable damage. As I'm sure you are aware, the weakness of the Borg is their inability, or rather lack of security, regarding boarding parties. If we could locate a primary system of some sort, we should be able to cause enough damage to have a fighting chance."

          "With a cube there isn't any way of getting to the central processing node," Janeway exclaimed, "I can imagine the pyramid will have it shielded even more!"

"Actually," Picard explained, "the central processor of the pyramid probably can't support the entire vessel. My guess is that the ship has several sub-processors that, if eliminated, would cause major problems in starship operations. We have enough personnel to disable several all at once."

Janeway still looked concerned; "The only problem I see with that is locating them."

"That will be difficult considering how large the pyramid is." Picard agreed.

"There is no way we could use scans to locate them before the Borg had our ships in tractor beams."

Meanwhile, Captain Sisko, although physically present in _Voyager's conference room, was really in the Celestial Temple talking to the prophets. As the captain was sitting there, a flash of white light suddenly blinded him, and he heard the faint echo of a heartbeat; experience had taught him that it was his own. He found himself now standing, still in what appeared to be the conference room, but it looked different. The setting was blurred, and discolored. Sisko found himself at the head of the table with images of Picard and Janeway to both sides. He could think only one thing, __the __prophets. They spoke quickly and interrupted each other just as the other one was finishing, and alternated each sentence. _

          The Picard prophet spoke first, "The Sisko has strayed from the chosen path."

          Janeway prophet followed, "An unforeseen event has been conceived."

          Picard's prophet image again, "The Sisko has abandoned his post."

          "He has left us."

"The Sisko does not belong here."

          "The Sisko cannot remain here."

          "The Sisko must not stray from the chosen path."

          "We are in danger."

          "Who?! Who's in danger?" Sisko exclaimed, now very confused.

          "All of us," the Picard prophet answered.

          "The Sisko must be the savior."

          "We need the Sisko."

          "Is the Sisko enough?"

          "The Sisko is strong."

          "Yes," the Janeway prophet concluded, "we need the Sisko."

          "Listen," Captain Sisko said, "I'd like to help you, but I don't understand what you want of me. You have to tell me what I need to do."

          The Picard prophet looked at him for a moment, but this time, it was the Janeway prophet that started the bizarre form of communication, "The Sisko is lost."

          "Confused," the Picard prophet agreed.

          "But the Sisko must not falter."

          "He is in need of guidance."

          Sisko still wasn't getting anywhere, and he was about to ask another question when the door to the room hissed open. Sisko had but one thing to say, "Sara,"

          "Hello my son," Sara said, "You are not in a clear state of mind."

          "I don't understand what's going on, your message, the Borg…"

          "It is all right," Sara said, her voice calm, "everything will soon be clear. The Borg pose a great danger, you _must return to the place where you belong."_

          "Bajor," Sisko said, "But why would the Borg be interested in Bajor? Wait a minute; scans have shown us that the Borg can't build anymore stable Trans-Warp conduits. They aren't after Bajor or Deep Space Nine; it's the wormhole isn't it? They're hoping to collapse the Trans-Warp conduits and use artificial wormholes for inter-stellar travel…"

          "Very good Benjamin," Sara nodded, expressing some pride.

          Sisko began to be transported back to reality, but at the same time he continued to think aloud, "…And the only way they could learn how to make artificial wormholes, is if they get the technology from the prophets. When the station detected the cubes they weren't attacking, they were running tests. So, that's what it's all about, the only thing the Borg want is…"

          Back in the normal realm Picard and Janeway were discussing the issue of locating sub-processing nodes on the Borg pyramid. Picard noticed his long silence and turned to Sisko, "And what do you think Captain?"

          "…the wormhole." Sisko stood up, "Captain," he nodded to Picard then Janeway, "Captain, we need to go to Bajor. That's where the Borg are going."

          Sisko explained all that he had learned about the Borg's plans, and Janeway and Picard told Sisko of their thoughts on locating the sub-processing nodes. The three captains continued their discussion.

"Okay," said Janeway, "now we know where they are going, but we still are left with the question of how to locate the nodes prior to the assault."

"Captain Sisko," Picard knew he is on to something, "what if used the _Defiant's cloaking abilities?"_

Before Sisko responded Janeway shot a question off, "You mean your ship can cloak?"

"It's a long story," Sisko said, "the problem with using the my ship's cloak is communication. Once we located the targets, there's no way we could come in after we sent the signal before the Borg detected us, and that point the _Defiant would be a sitting duck."_

"What if," Janeway speculated, "we put a minimal skeleton crew on board and sacrificed the ship."

"No," said Picard, "we will definitely need the _Defiant's firepower."_

"I agree," said Sisko, "Besides who knows the sensor range on the pyramid, and it may be able to detect cloaked ships anyway. In my opinion there's no way it's worth the risk."

Janeway nodded, "All right, now that we all agree on that, any other ideas?"

Picard sat there rummaging through his brain searching for the answer. He knew he had the solution somewhere, he had a distant image of it, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was thinking of something like cloaking, but not quite the same. 

"What about," he said, "phasing?"

"Phasing?" Janeway asked.

"I don't know what that is either," Sisko proclaimed.

"On the old _Enterprise, we had several encounters with phasing technology. The Romulans were the ones working on development of course. It's like a cloaking device, but much more. A phased object can pass through matter because it has been, well… phased into a slightly different reality."_

"Sounds like a good idea," Janeway said.

"The problem is Captain," said Picard to Janeway, "as Captain Sisko knows, the Romulans can barely accept that the _Defiant uses its cloak in the Alpha Quadrant. If they found out about phased ships, they'd be furious."_

"I don't think that matters," Sisko announced, "our mission here is survival, and the sad truth is, without phasing technology we might not prevail, and even with a phase, we're pulling a long shot. Given the choice between them and us, we have to choose ourselves, every time."

"I am aware of that Captain," Picard said to Sisko, "I'm just saying that a decision to use a phasing device could have serious repercussions."

"I agree with Captain Sisko," Janeway said, "we go forward. Now, I think we should also set the _Defiant up to phase," she made eye contact with Sisko, "for your own protection."_

"Agreed," said Sisko.

"Very well," Picard sighed, "I'll have my chief engineer, Mr. La Forge, and Mr. Data, the two most familiar with the technology, begin construction on the devices. If that's all…"

"Wait a minute," Sisko said, "we may be able to help with that. Captain Janeway and I could send engineering teams as well as our chief engineers to the _Enterprise to make the work go faster."_

"Sounds like a good idea," Janeway said, then her mood lightened, "Now for the real dilemma, which one of us will report to Starfleet Command."

Janeway's comment was slightly amusing to the other two captains, but neither of them showed it. The comment produced no response because all three of them knew that this was one of those times where there is no report to the Federation Council's bureaucrats until after the mission is over.

The three engineers were all about to converge on the _Enterprise to construct the devices that would allow the small fleet to phase. All three captains decided to be there as well. Sisko and Janeway were already on board, but La Forge and the other captains were in transporter room two waiting for the other engineers to arrive. Chief Unson was the __Enterprise's new transporter chief, and was feeling the pressure of being in the same room with three of Starfleet's most distinguished leaders._

"Lieutenant Torres is ready for transport," Unson said.

Picard was about to order the chief to energize, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Captain Janeway. "Something you should know about my chief engineer, she has a habit from the Maquis of making modifications that fall outside protocol. Now, due to our dire circumstances being lost in the Delta Quadrant I allowed her some leniency. How do you think we should handle this?"

"Mr. La Forge?" this was all Picard had to say to get the message across that he wanted the engineer's opinion.

 "Hey," La Forge said, "if ya ask me, to get out of this thing in one piece we need all the help we can get."

Picard's next words would show how much he valued Geordi's opinion. "Very well," he said, "we'll let her ideas flow a little outside the boundaries, if that's how things go, but don't let her stray too far, we still have principles." Geordi nodded ever so slightly to acknowledge that he understood completely. "Energize Mr. Unson."

Lieutenant Torres materialized. She quickly greeted each captain, and then began conversing with La Forge.

"Chief O'Brien is standing by," Unson reported.

"Energize," all three captains said simultaneously. They all seemed a bit embarrassed and began looking at each other, and back at the two engineers. When eye contact was made Lieutenant Torres looked away, and Geordi La Forge showed a slight grin, but tried to hide his amusement. Unson was young and thrown off guard. He was lost and utterly baffled as to what it all meant. Should he actually energize? Not knowing what else to do he looked helplessly at Picard, who made him feel much better by telling him through his eyes that he understood and then nodding to answer his question with a firm yes, please, energize. 

The illuminating light of the transporter flashed before their eyes. A second later the outline of a man could be seen in the light, and a few seconds later Chief O'Brien was standing on the transporter pad.

Picard stepped forward, "Welcome aboard Mr. O'Brien," he said.

The chief smiled, "It's good to see you again, sir."

"Well," said La Forge, "I hate to rush into things, but we've got a lot of work ahead and a small amount of time to do it too. Data's already in engineering compiling information about our experiences with phasing technology."

Lieutenant Torres gave a pad to La Forge. "Here," she said, "it's not much, but this is everything our computers had about a species of… well, actually, evolved dinosaurs, but anyway their species had a phase cloak as well as Trans warp drive."

"Really," said La Forge who was intrigued, "dinosaurs?"

Picard could see it in Geordi's implants that he wanted to hear a nice long story, and as a matter of fact, Picard was curious about the dinosaurs as well, but this was not something they could afford to dwell on just now. "I'm afraid this isn't the time. Perhaps we can exchange interesting stories when the current situation has been neutralized, but for now we must keep working."

La Forge led the way as the engineering seniors headed toward engineering. They all carried themselves in a very serious manner. While tediously working on this assignment all of them would have trouble finding time to eat let alone grab a couple hours of sleep. However, the importance of their work was too great to rush through. No, they needed to do a good thorough job, but many people throughout the Federation would appreciate expedience. The captains were not worried. These are the people who have earned a spot as "The Chief" at their respected postings if they didn't have a keen ability to get things done in crunch time. And with three special engineers like this all working on the same team. Well, if they are unable to develop a phase cloak in time for the three starships to save the Federation, then it can simply not be done in the amount of time.

The abandoned station Deep Space Nine floated dead in space, a fiery ruble. The at one time center for all sorts of aliens, and battles, was now space junk. The station had fought well. Only one of the initial 3 cubes was still in Bajorian Space. The ship didn't bother to incinerate the station, it just sat at the edge of the system, waiting. 

The attack on the Federation station had been costly to the cube. Nearly half of the drones did not survive the battle. They had pulled away from the fighting to make repairs, it was important that the cube make sure the wormhole was secure before the pyramid arrived. All of the drones silently went about repairs, a most efficient operation.

Suddenly the voice of the collective echoed throughout the vessel's corridors, "Incoming transmission from Borg vessel – Registry Omega 02."

"Cube 23176, continue with repair efforts. Omega 02 will enter spatial grid shortly to commence wormhole retrieval operation. Caution: Federation resistance expected, the wormhole must not be lost."

"Message received, we serve the collective." the cube responded.

On the pyramid billions of drones were active, and working hard to tweak the new prototype vessel to ensure optimal combat efficiency. The ship bore the registration number Omega 02 because to the collective only the Omega Particle represents a greater perfection. Weapons were key, because the collective expected great resistance in their plans for the wormhole. Not just from the Federation, but the Bajorians. The collective had assimilated this species before and they knew that despite a lack of technology, and a relatively weak political position, the Bajorians would prove highly resistant. Especially because of what the pyramid's gravimetric distortions would do to Bajor's orbit.

On the planet Bajor there was mass chaos. Everyone wanted to know why the station was abandoned. The political types, were concerned about the Federation pulling out and someone else stopping by. Then there were those unsettled by the Emissary's departure. Despite reasons, one thing was clear, all of Bajor was worried, and wanting to know what happened.

Kira was talking to one of the Vediks on the screen in front of her.

"No," she was saying, "the Emissary didn't tell me when he'd be back."

"But Kira," the Vedik said franticly, "surely he had some sort of plan, a reason for leaving."

"Like I said before," the Major explained, tying to be patient, "the stations sensors detected Borg vessels entering Bajorian Space. The station isn't equipped well enough to handle that kind of invasion without further ship support from Starfleet. That wasn't possible because the invasion was a complete surprise. Captain Sisko evacuated the station to lure the Borg away from Bajor, and save the lives of his Federation officers."

"And what about the station?" the Vedik wondered.

Just then Odo walked into the room. Kira was too involved with her conversation to notice the slight hiss of the door opening. Odo walked up to her, and stood stoically by her seat, waiting for a moment of her time.

"Well," the Major said frankly, "we're not getting any signal from the station at all, not detecting any radiation levels it would be emitting… We can't be sure what happened, but there is a possibility that the station didn't survive the Borg attack."

"You're saying," the Vedik uttered in astonishment, "that Deep Space Nine is destroyed?"

"Again," Kira said, "we have no conformation on that, but… It's definitely a possibility."

"I will pray for the Profit's forgiveness," the Vedik concluded, "and for the safe return of the Emissary."

"Vedik," the Major said softly, "that's very kind, but I don't think the Profits have any influence over the Borg."

"Perhaps you are right," the Vedik said, "but for now, I don't think there's anything else to do but hope. Good-bye."

"Kira out."

"Major," said Odo, "if I could have a moment of your time…"

Kira jumped back, noticing Odo for the first time, and startled by his presence, "Odo," she said with a long sigh, "yes, I'd be glad to give you a minute."

"You certainly seem to have your hands full here," Odo observed.

"It's ridiculous," Kira shot off, getting out of her chair, she began pacing the room, "you wouldn't believe how many people are calling in just trying to get an idea of what's going on here. And the government doesn't want to issue any announcements because all the reports we do have are unconfirmed!" She swiped her hand across the desk she'd been at all day, sending several pads clattering to the floor.

Kira put her hands on the side of her head, trying to soothe her headache with little luck. Instead, she continued to express her frustrations, "And where _is_ the First Minister?"

"All searches for the First Minister have turned up negative," Odo reported.

"Where could he be," Kira asked, "at a time like this, what could pull him away from his duties?"

"I," Odo hesitated, he was never comfortable taking up the role of comforting solids, "I couldn't tell you."

Kira sensed Odo's discomfort and couldn't help but smile at the changeling's typical behavior, "Oh, I'm sorry, Odo," she explained, "I just needed to vent a little."

"That's understandable," Odo reasoned.

"Now," Kira said, regaining her professionalism, "what did you want to talk with me about?"

"This morning a farmer discovered metal debris of some kind in one of his fields," Odo reported, "lab results have been stalled, but early thoughts point to the possibility that it could be Borg."

"What, from the cube the station destroyed?" Kira asked.

"I don't see how it could have traveled that far, but I wouldn't rule it out either," Odo said, "it could also be from a smaller Borg craft sent out by one of the other cubes—the Borg equivalent to a shuttle craft."

"No," Kira thought aloud, "that doesn't sound right. The Borg don't have any reason to land on Bajor, we have nothing they want, do we?"

"Well," Odo reminded her, "the lab hasn't gotten a proper analysis finished yet, at this point it's all just speculation. Even so, I figured you should know."

"You're right," Kira said, "I'll add it to my collection."

Odo walked over to Kira's desk, bent down on his knees and started picking up the pads she had thrown off. As he set each pad neatly back onto the First Minister's desk, which the Major had been using, he glanced over the first few lines, catching the important points on each of them.

When he finished, he commented, "You really weren't kidding when you said that all of these reports were unconfirmed."

"Odo," Kira said in disgust, "the truth is we have no idea what's going on out there. We can't even be sure the _Defiant_ made it out okay."

Odo, trying to be a good friend, hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder, "You mustn't speak like that, Captain Sisko and the other _Defiant_ officers are strong, I'm sure they made it out of the system just fine."

"I guess you're right," Kira sighed, "it's just so frustrating not to know what's happening. It's a feeling all of Bajor is sharing, and with the First Minister missing, people are turning to me for answers that, that I can't give them. But what am I supposed to say?"

"Exactly what you have been saying," Odo told her calmly, "and in the meantime you can work to try and find answers to give them. Aside from that, there's really nothing more you can do."

Just then, the panel on the First Minister's desk started beeping, indicating that another call was coming through.

"What is it now?" Kira asked herself. She was becoming frustrated with this. Hearing the same questions over and over again, and explaining with the same little speech over and over that she didn't know what the answers to those questions were.

Kira sat down at the desk and pressed the button activating the screen. She was somewhat surprised to see another member of the Bajorian Militia staring back at her.

"Major," explained the officer, "we have a… Well, I mean…"

"Go ahead," Kira said, "say it."

"We found…" the man continued to be at a loss for words, "I think you'd better get down here."

The officer seemed very nervous, and Kira had no doubts that whatever he wanted to show her was very serious. She knew that it could even lead to the discovery of the answers to all these questions she was stuck dealing with.

"Very well," she said, "submit your coordinates and I'll be right there." A moment later, "Coordinates received, Kira out."

Kira rose, and looked over at Odo, who was still present and had heard all of her conversation with the nervous Bajorian.

"Odo," she said – almost asking him to accompany her. In actuality, she was just verifying that Odo was to join her.

Odo gestured his arm toward the door, "After you," he said.

Odo and Kira were transported to a Bajorian farm. There, the officer that Major Kira had spoken to was ready to greet them.

"Major," he said, then gulped, anxiety flooding his system, "if you'll come this way."

The three began walking, and the officer attempted to begin explaining the situation, "We were searching this province, as ordered, and everything old storage houses." He gestured to the structures they were walking toward. "We probably was going smooth. No sign of Borg or debris or anything out of the ordinary. That is until we reached these would have never stepped foot in there, but we couldn't find anyone on this farm. No laborers, no animals, the owners no where in sight."

"That's very strange," Odo observed, "Bajorian farmers never leave things unattended."

"Exactly," agreed the officer, "which is why we thought we'd search for them. We stepped in here…"

The officer opened the door to one of the storage houses, and led Odo and Kira inside, "…and found this."

Inside the old storage house were nearly a dozen Borg drones. There were also several Bajorian officers there, weapons drawn, but the drones made no motion. Most of them were probably the farmers and the laborers under them that had already been assimilated. But one drone stuck out in particular. The drones face was very recognizable, it was the Bajorian First Minister.

"They haven't moved," the officer continued reporting, "since we arrived. We're not sure why. It seems very odd."

"Yes," Odo agreed, and then trailed off.

"All this time I've been worrying about the Borg's assault on the Federation," Kira said to herself, "wanting to know what was going on up there. But we've got problems of our own right here, don't we?"


	9. Chapter 8

Captain's log: Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Stardate 51935._ The massive engineering team composed from the _Enterprise_, _Defiant_, and _Voyager_ is hard at work developing devices that will make each of our three ships phase. The progress of the team is coming along nicely, and the only thing in question at this point is if we have enough information in our databanks to successfully replicate this technology. We don't know if the latest Borg threat can detect cloaked vessels, but we believe they will have little success getting a weapons lock on our ships if they are slightly phased into another reality. _

_Upon entering Federation Space, the Borg's pyramid has been emitting some sort of strange signal, similar to the one that Mr. Data detected in the satellite net of Monasian Prime. Whatever it is, the signal is powerful enough to disrupt the entire Starfleet Subspace Communications Grid. All the tactical data on the vessel is on our three ship's databanks. So, we have no way of getting this valuable information to Starfleet Command. Also, if we fail, Starfleet will have a very difficult time in organizing a larger fleet. At this time, I sit alone in my ready room, and cannot help but wonder how three ships could possibly succeed in destroying such a colossal target._

Captain's log: Captain Benjamin Sisko, Stardate 51935._ Our engineers are hard at work trying to develop something that will allow us to fight the Borg stealthily. Once we get this phase cloak, as Captain Picard calls it, constructed, we still have no idea what we're going to do to actually attack the Borg. We've decided that the ship will likely be powered by sub-processors as oppose to one large central processor, but we won't be able to locate those until we're much closer to the Borg pyramid. The work is slow, and I am ready to get underway. But I know that at times like these, all I can do is wait, whether I want to or not. _

_The Borg's plan continues to trouble me. They obviously know the Bajorian wormhole is artificial, but how do they plan to make their wormholes so that the Borg exclusively will use them? I wonder if they are aware of the profit's presence. I've never actually seen a profit, they have always appeared to me as people from my memory, usually people whom I have just recently come into contact with. I don't know if the Borg would be able to assimilate or control them._

_Before a few days ago, when I was forced to evacuate Deep Space Nine, I hadn't faced the Borg since… since I lost Jennifer, my wife, and Jake's mother. So far, everything has been so fast-paced I didn't have time to think about that, until now. And now that the images of Jennifer's death on the _Saratoga_ at Wolf 359 are resurfacing, I am having a hard time focusing on phase cloaks and even the profits._

Captain's log: Captain Kathryn Janeway, Stardate 51935._ The Borg pyramid has been detected here in the Alpha Quadrant, and I am currently working with two other Starfleet captain's, Captain Sisko and Captain Picard, to develop a phase technology that will give us the needed edge in combating the Borg's pyramid. Using an engineering team comprised of engineers from all three crews, we are making rapid progress. I'm sure that before long we will have the phase device and be attacking the Borg._

_I have confidence in our ability to think as individuals, and have no doubt that we will be able to halt the Borg advance into our territory. However, this battle isn't going to be easy. As we wait for the engineers to do their job, I've been spending some time talking to members of my crew. Their morale hasn't been this low since we first got lost. After all these years in the Delta Quadrant my officers have put a lot of conflicts aside and worked together, hoping to one day return home to Earth, or other Alpha Quadrant worlds that are home to some of them. Now, we're here, and I sense that a lot of my officers just want to go home._

_Unfortunately, we do have this Borg threat that must be dealt with first, and while they understand that, the crew just doesn't seem to have the energy for this battle. Nevertheless, I've come to place my trust in all of them, and I am sure that when the battle begins, my crew will come ready to do their duties. When it matters most, they'll find a way to focus in on what each of them has to do. I just wish it didn't have to be so hard for them._

On Bajor, Major Kira, Odo, and the other officers of the Bajorian militia stood in front of the Borg drones that had apparently invaded their planet.

"What should we do?" one of the young officers spat out.

"Uh," Major Kira hesitated, not really knowing the best way to attack the Borg, not knowing much about the Borg at all. She had read about them in the Federation databanks on the station, heard about them of course, but never encountered them before. She never studied the information she had available on them at great length because there never seemed to be a need. Now she wished she had used the information she had available when she had it.

Kira was stalled, stuck, frozen. Odo understood her dilemma, but she was supposed to be the leader. As he looked around, Odo observed the other officers with them, they were all nervous to begin with, but they seemed to be getting increasingly nervous as their leader stood by silently, without an answer to the question posed.

"Major," Odo baited, trying to make her subtly realize that she had to be the cool head, the one in control, and the one to inspire confidence.

"Right," Kira said, "what we need to do is kill all the Borg here."

"But if we shoot at them, they'll adapt to our weapons," someone nervously spat out.

"Who said that?" Kira asked.

A young man stepped forward. He looked like he had just signed up for the militia yesterday. He had light brown hair, which was parted in the middle, with a long, thin, nose and green eyes. As he stood in front of Major Kira, she stood about two inches taller than him.

"Lieutenant Jacob Reed, sir," the young officer reported.

"Jacob Reed, that's a human name," the Major noted.

"Yes, sir," Reed reported, "my mother was human."

It was at that time when Kira first noticed that his nose ridges were indeed less pronounced than most of her people. But this was no time for small talk, Kira knew she had to get down to business, and focus on defeating the Borg.

"Well, Lieutenant," Kira began, "I am fully aware of the Borg's adaptive capabilities. Nevertheless, we can't let them stay here. They're likely to wake up eventually and then they'll assimilate more Bajorians. Now, Lieutenant Reed, am I correct in assuming that your team did not come equipped with any photon charges?"

"Yes sir," Reed responded, "I wasn't aware that they were included in the standard equipment for a search party."

That comment was insubordination, and Odo noticed it immediately. In response, the shape-shifter shot a glance at Lieutenant Reed that caused him to adjust his posture and keep his place. Kira noticed too, but at the moment, she didn't care.

"They're not," Kira said, responding to Reed's last comment, "but I think that's are best bet. We can go unnoticed placing several charges on the outside of these storage houses. It'll annihilate these Borg in one swift blow. All we have to do is contact Militia Headquarters and beam them in."

"Unfortunately, that isn't going to be so easy," Odo reported, holding a Bajorian tricorder he had grabbed just before beaming here, "it looks like something in this Borg equipment is emitting some sort of strange damping field. Only certain electronic signals are being disrupted. That's probably why we didn't detect this set-up in our orbital scans of the planet. Anyway, communications at this location are jammed, we'll have to head out a ways before we can send a transmission."

"Of course," Kira said, still in a bit of dismal state, as the knowledge of a Borg presence on Bajor slowly sunk in.

"Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend it," Odo continued, "there's no reason to think that the Borg aren't ease dropping on all communications now."

"Well," asked Kira nervously, "can they hear are conversation?"

"Not according to these readings," Odo reported, "it looks like these drones are almost completely inactive."

"But why?" Kira asked herself, "It doesn't make any sense… Odo, you've got to get to Militia Headquarters as soon as possible. You can beam back here with the necessary equipment."

"I'm on my way," said Odo dutifully.

The shape-shifter transformed himself on the spot into the first thing that came to mind, which a seagull. As he did so the tricorder dropped to the ground and Odo flew off.

As he soared through the air, Odo wondered why the first bird that came to mind was a seagull. The last time he was at Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, he was hunting some of his own people that had infiltrated Earth and were watching. In the end, an admiral had blown the seriousness of the situation out of proportion, but one morning during his trip, Odo had flown with the seagulls to get an aerial survey of Starfleet Headquarters. Why the seagull was the instinctual form he took now, was puzzling to him. Knowing so little about his people, and the kind of instincts they had, Odo found himself with little information to go on to explain some of his impulse behavior. He reasoned that one possibility was that the Borg and the Federation are enemies, a bird made the most sense to transform into because he could rapidly fly across the Bajorian farmland, and the reason for the seagull because that was the only bird that he had been exposed to that has it's origins on Earth. The thought soon passed, as Odo focused on reaching the militia's headquarters and getting the needed explosives to Kira and the other Bajorians.

Meanwhile, Major Kira and a team of Bajorian officers were still in the old storage house where the Borg seemed to have set up camp. All they could do was wait for Odo to return with the photonic charges that would enable them to remove these drones from Bajorian soil. Major Kira, however, did not like waiting.

"While we have the time," Kira announced, "I'd like to take a closer look at some of this Borg equipment. Who knows what will find. Maybe other Borg sites on Bajor, or maybe an indication of what their plan might be." _If they have one_, she thought, simply unable to find a reason as to what role Bajor played in the Collective's attack on the Federation. "Okay…" she said to herself.

Kira walked over to the center of the group and gestured for the officers to move to either side of her, clearly creating two separate groups.

"Lieutenant Reed," she said, "lead your group over there and investigate the Borg technology. We'll stay back and cover you," Reed's eyes widened, "…just incase the Borg break out of their comatose state."

Reed and the group walked into the Borg infested area of the old storage house. As they progressed, Reed made it a point to keep Major Kira apprised of what they saw.

"It looks like all of them are in a state of hibernation or something," he commented. "Each drone is plugged into these units, and from these readings, I'd guess they're getting fed power, recharging or something."

"Oh," said Kira, accepting the idea.

"As for the computers," Reed continued, "I don't know. It's some kind of weird configuration. I don't know what any of them mean."

Reed continued describing things he couldn't explain, but Kira's attention became focused on his earlier comment about the Borg recharging.

"Wait a minute," Kira started, "you said that the Borg were being fed energy."

"It certainly looks that way," Reed told her.

"Yeah," Kira went on, "and I'm not questioning you there, but where's it coming from? We're out in the middle of nowhere."

The officer who had contacted Kira and Odo and insisted they beam over here spoke up again, "Actually, we noticed on the way inside that there were some old solar panels set-up on the roof. Farmers used to use them to power storage houses like this, it was just enough to keep the lights on if they needed to come in and find something."

"Solar power," Kira repeated, "well that's very weak. It's going to take them a while to get up to full power that way."

"That doesn't mean time's on our side," Reed reminded her, "these Borg could've been here ever since you arrived."

Suddenly, without cause or reason, one of the Borg drones activated. Breaking out of regeneration, it's eyes widened. The drone was thrusted forward a few centimeters as a small hiss could be heard as it broke the connection with regeneration chamber.

Elsewhere, the _Defiant_, _Enterprise_, and _Voyager_ floated motionless in space. They were too busy preparing for combat. It had been agreed that the _Enterprise_ would serve as the guinea pig for the phase cloak development. All the top engineers in this mini-fleet, as they had started to refer to it, were able to meet in one location. The _Enterprise_ made sense because the only information available on phase cloak was stored in her databanks, having been transferred from the old _Enterprise-D_. Once they had developed the device, and successfully integrated it into the _Enterprise's_ systems, to make sure it worked, they would simply have to replicate the device and install them in _Voyager_ and the _Defiant_, probably needing a few slight adjustments.

In engineering, Lieutenant Commander Data, Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, Chief O'Brien, B'leanna Torres, and Seven of Nine were hard at work, and getting ready for a preliminary test.

"Okay," Geordi said, "we've still need to fine tune the circuits to get it to work, but I'd like to see if we can even tie in the hardware to the main engine first."

"None of my simulations have showed any problems," Data reported.

"Let's run the test anyway," said a fatigued Torres, none of them had slept in days, "I'd like to see a little progress."

Chief O'Brien walked up, "Yeah, that'd be nice. And tinkering with the microscopic circuits on this thing to trigger the right reaction's going to be tricky."

"Tell me about it," La Forge agreed, "besides, Data, do you want to go see Captain Picard after we accidentally blow up the ship trying to phase?"

The android removed his hands from the control panel, and turned to face his friend. He gave Geordi a very puzzling look because he didn't understand his comment. It was possible for them to phase themselves right into non-existence if the ship's pressure decreased and the outside pressure remained firm. This would overload the systems and destroy the ship, but as long as the engineers were careful, that eventuality was not likely. That wasn't the point though. If they did destroy the _Enterprise_, Data would be unable to explain to Captain Picard because the both of them would have been destroyed with the ship.

Data attempted to correct his mistaken friend, "But Geordi…"

As all of this happened, Dax came up behind Data, recognizing his lack of understanding by drawing off her lives of experience. She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"Let's just focus on getting the test started," Dax said softly.

Data seemed to accept her answer and began setting up the experiment by punching several sequences on his control panel. The androids hands moved so fast, it was impossible for anyone to see exactly what he was doing with the blind eye. Dax was thoroughly impressed.

"Are we ready over there?" La Forge shouted to Torres, who had helped Chief O'Brien integrate the mainframe of the phase device into the _Enterprise's_ warp core.

"Everything should be in order," Torres replied hastily.

"Should?" Geordi didn't like the sound of this, "Chief?"

O'Brien sighed, "The truth is Commander that we've fused and tinkered with so many circuits and microcircuits, I don't know what to expect."

La Forge didn't like hearing that; nevertheless, he would have to try this test anyway. The idea of this experiment was to see if the circuitry of the phase device would interface properly with the _Enterprise's_ systems. Although the phase "adapter," as the engineers dubbed it, wouldn't actually do anything yet, they needed to see if they could channel some of the energy being fed to the warp core through the phase adapter without any interference.

"Okay," Geordi said again, "okay" becoming his new favorite word as he hesitantly approved the continuation of this difficult to predict construction, "let's go for it."

"Start your engines," Dax said to herself as she walked by Data.

Standing next to Data, was Seven of Nine, who had been entrusted with minimal duties so far. Her job was simply to monitor the core temperature, to make sure that the warp core didn't begin overheat. This was almost unheard of in Federation warp engines, and even more unlikely in this scenario because all power transfers taking place were moving power out of the warp core.

After Dax passed, Seven uttered a sarcastic reply to the Trill's comment, "Our engines are already running." It was clear that Seven was lost in the metaphors the other engineers were constantly using.

The only one who could relate to this was Data. Data still got confused by some human expressions, but was now much more versed in them. His emotion chip helped somewhat, but it was really his many years of being around humans that allowed him to realize what they were trying to relay in their metaphors and anecdotes.

Data turned to Seven, "Commander Dax's comment is derived from an old tradition on Earth, and other worlds as well, known as 'auto-racing.' Automobiles, or similar crafts, would line up on a track and race to see which of them could complete the course in the fastest time. The start of one these races was very exciting for the drivers, an excitement comparable to the excitement of running our first test on the phase adaptor, which we have all been working so hard on."

"Thank you," Seven told him, with an honest appreciation for Data's insight. She turned back to her station, and continued monitoring her readouts.

Geordi tapped his communicator, "La Forge to bridge."

"Picard here," the Captain said, "go ahead Geordi."

"Captain," Picard's chief engineer reported, "we'd like to run a small test. We've got the device built, but we need to make sure it's fully compatible with our systems before we can nail the programming down that's going to make this thing work."

"Understood," Picard said, "proceed."

Captain Picard tapped one of the buttons on the armrest of his chair, closing the channel from the bridge to engineering. He was more than happy to approve a test at this point. Despite the captain's always calm exterior, and his firm, serious attitude, he was anxious to get this mission underway. The mini-fleet could only imagine what damage the Borg were doing while they idled in space preparing.

Moments later, Picard's thoughts were interrupted, as the _Enterprise_ powered down.

Picard tapped his communicator, "Engineering, report."

After a brief pause, Geordi's voice came out of his badge, "It didn't work," he said simply, making no effort to hide his disappointment, and disgust, "we'll try to get main power back online as soon as possible."

In engineering, the scene was a little more hectic than Picard would have picked up listening to the official report over the comm. Emergency power had restored the lights and life support, but everything else was out, the main computer was as good as down, with it's functions so limited, all the ship could do was keep the lights on and the life support operational.

La Forge took a deep breath, "Alright," he said, "what happened."

Nobody got more than a glance at the system's readouts before the power cut out, which meant that Data was the only one who could give La Forge an answer.

Although he could not become fatigued, Data's emotion chip did allow him to feel a certain level of frustration and aggravation due to all the guesswork and slow progress under dire circumstances. Still, the android spoke with his usual tone and inflections, and kept a level of professionalism about him that most humanoids did not have the discipline needed to keep their professional attitude.

"We were unable to successfully regulate the power going through the phase adaptor," Data reported, "All of the warp power passed through the adaptor. For this to work, we only need approximately 32% of the power to keep a phase cloak intact."

"Okay," La Forge said, thinking hard, "but we knew that already."

"Yes," Data confirmed, "however, I do not believe we can accurately control the amount of power being diverted from the warp core without a special regulator."

"Yeah," La Forge said, visualizing something, "I see where the anti-matter could give us problems. But other than that, the test went okay?"

"That is correct," Data said.

"Good," Geordi said, "Chief O'Brien, Commander Dax, find something that will prevent more than 30% of the warp power from flowing into the phase adaptor. The rest of you, let's start programming."

"Geordi," Data said, "may I remind you that we cannot resume work on the project until main power is restored. May I suggest that all of you get some rest now; I can coordinate some of our less experienced engineers in this repair effort. It would beneficial if everyone got some rest."

"Sounds good to me," Chief O'Brien said, "I'm starving."

For the first time in days, Geordi laughed, "Alright, that sounds good, Data. I think we could all use a good six hours." Then he glanced at Data, "Well, almost all of us. We'll reconvene here at 08:00?"

"Sounds good, Commander," Dax replied and the tired engineers walked out of the engine room.


End file.
